1
RisefromBlackAshes
South of the Border, West of the Sun
Context: I saw this with English subtitles at the Chicago premiere on March 14th. Yes, Yuki was there and it was awesome. I will keep the rest focused on reviewing.
A better Story synopsis: Ryo is a young man living in Tokyo, mourning the loss of his girlfriend, Yuri. 100 days after her death he goes to the Bar Houdini and receives a box from the former owner that he left earlier. With this box he remembers his girlfriend said a doppelganger of her lives in Hokkaido, and he seeks her out, learning magic along the way and unraveling a mysteries in love, doppelgangers, and the truth of the magician Ryo’s disappearance.
The summary does not fully do it justice since there is a LOT of material in this film. I was genuinely surprised given the weak summaries I have read elsewhere. I was surprised that Yuki has graduated from cheesy shoujo’s into this type of role, but very pleased with this development.
Additionally, the director of this film is Kwak Jae-yong best know for ‘My Sassy Girl’. Seeing this type of collaboration between Japanese actors and a Korean director was really interesting. It lead to a really unique type of filming and mood for the film that was fresh and interesting.
Acting/Cast: There are really only two main actors; Furukawa Yuki and Fujii Takemi. However, it is important to acknowledge the supporting cast. The supporting cast really helped flesh out the story, where the main actor were not the focus or we needed a break from them. With their help the story moved a lot more fluidly.
Fujii Takemi was a real gem. Her ‘duel’ characters as Aya and Yuki (I will leave it at that) was really stunning. There was a very eerie similarity but distinct difference between both characters and she pulled it off really well. I was not completely sold on every scene, but overall a very sold performance from her.
Furukawa Yuki stole the movie, and as the main character(s) he should. Even more striking, probably because of the bad mustache he had a true dualitiy between Ryu, and Ryo. Both characters have distinct motivations as the story opens but slowly they merge together in a wonderful and natural way. Not to mention he did all the scenes on his own, with minimal use of a stand in which, a lot of the later scenes, for sure takes a toll on the body. I sincerely applaud him in his progress and can’t wait to see what he does next.
Other Comments/Overall: I was a little taken aback by the use of English music in the film. I was expecting Japanese or Korean so at times on a personal note it was off putting. I really appreciate that the more mature themes were handled with dignity and respect. It was very appreciated. It was also really cool that most of it was shot on scene in Japan mostly Tokyo/Yokohama/Hokkaido. When this movie comes out, hopefully on Netflix or something, I would watch it again for sure. (And I rarely ever re-watch films) It was really well done and incredibly compelling.
A better Story synopsis: Ryo is a young man living in Tokyo, mourning the loss of his girlfriend, Yuri. 100 days after her death he goes to the Bar Houdini and receives a box from the former owner that he left earlier. With this box he remembers his girlfriend said a doppelganger of her lives in Hokkaido, and he seeks her out, learning magic along the way and unraveling a mysteries in love, doppelgangers, and the truth of the magician Ryo’s disappearance.
The summary does not fully do it justice since there is a LOT of material in this film. I was genuinely surprised given the weak summaries I have read elsewhere. I was surprised that Yuki has graduated from cheesy shoujo’s into this type of role, but very pleased with this development.
Additionally, the director of this film is Kwak Jae-yong best know for ‘My Sassy Girl’. Seeing this type of collaboration between Japanese actors and a Korean director was really interesting. It lead to a really unique type of filming and mood for the film that was fresh and interesting.
Acting/Cast: There are really only two main actors; Furukawa Yuki and Fujii Takemi. However, it is important to acknowledge the supporting cast. The supporting cast really helped flesh out the story, where the main actor were not the focus or we needed a break from them. With their help the story moved a lot more fluidly.
Fujii Takemi was a real gem. Her ‘duel’ characters as Aya and Yuki (I will leave it at that) was really stunning. There was a very eerie similarity but distinct difference between both characters and she pulled it off really well. I was not completely sold on every scene, but overall a very sold performance from her.
Furukawa Yuki stole the movie, and as the main character(s) he should. Even more striking, probably because of the bad mustache he had a true dualitiy between Ryu, and Ryo. Both characters have distinct motivations as the story opens but slowly they merge together in a wonderful and natural way. Not to mention he did all the scenes on his own, with minimal use of a stand in which, a lot of the later scenes, for sure takes a toll on the body. I sincerely applaud him in his progress and can’t wait to see what he does next.
Other Comments/Overall: I was a little taken aback by the use of English music in the film. I was expecting Japanese or Korean so at times on a personal note it was off putting. I really appreciate that the more mature themes were handled with dignity and respect. It was very appreciated. It was also really cool that most of it was shot on scene in Japan mostly Tokyo/Yokohama/Hokkaido. When this movie comes out, hopefully on Netflix or something, I would watch it again for sure. (And I rarely ever re-watch films) It was really well done and incredibly compelling.
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