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realdeal
philippines
This is not for everyone. If you expect it will give you a feel good feeling like your typical romantic comedy you will be disappointed and I won't even be surprised if you ended up hating the movie cause of how brutal honest it is.
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The way death note ended gives lot of questions to us viewers just what happen to the world after? Given that death note still exist. This film tries to answer that question as 6 death notes spread around the world; it also clarifies some rules and expands it more which only makes it more interesting for possible sequels in the future. Also, the film did a nice job of portraying the post death note world as how we imagine it, death note used as a tool for terrorism and the idea of death note as the key for world order. Although even with interesting setting, fans of death note would be a bit disappointed here as it lacks the brain power of the original, nothing new as plot twist and tricks were all familiar, the execution was right but sometimes innovation is needed.
Although the movie's substance is a bit of a disappointment what it excels at is its stunning visuals it's so good, it's directed by Shinsuke Sato in the first place, the guy who directed Gantz and I am hero so you know what to expect if you watched those, the camera shots were awesome and the films atmosphere too, and also THE CGI WAS TOP NOTCHED RYUK here is miles better than the original.
Imagining death note without Light and L would be hard but at least their presence was felt from video recordings of them throughout the movie which IMO was a brilliant idea. As for the rivalry, it is now played by Ryuzaki and Shien which was subpar compared to the original but please do yourself a favor "DO NO WATCH THIS FILM WITHOUT WATCHING THE 3 PART MINI SERIES" this will make you connect with them and understand their motivation better. The acting from 3 main actors was excellent even higashide which at first I thought would be subpar compared to ikematsu and suda.
Got the same feeling from watching Crows Explode, just replicates the awesomeness of the original but offers nothing new. Felt a bit of cash grab. Felt a bit disappointed especially that actors played their characters well.
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Before watching I already knew the this would be a sad story but at the same time I am confident that I would not cry, I am kind of immune to that since I've seen a lot of sad movies, and I am right, I didn't cry, but that doesn't mean the story is NOT sad cause it is, but I felt that that they made the ending bitter sweet because based on how people describe the anime it would have been a cry fest.
Now for the thing that I really like, the theme in the movie, I love how the movie conveys their connection thru music, I felt that it is so romantic like it is their love letter for each other, and just like the phrase they say to each other "will it reach you?". With that theme conveyed so well only made their performances so much better, technically they are already brilliant but with so much emotions attached to the performance made that scene EPIC.
Cinematography is beautiful, it is one of those colorful Japanese movies, seems to be the trend nowadays. Music is given to be excellent but what I am surprised is how well they play the instruments, one movie come to mind that could rival this in terms of the skills of playing the instruments in a movie and that is Jay Chou's "Secret". I like the ending song as well, I don't understand japanese but its melody captures the ambiance of the movie.
Great acting from both Kento and Suzu, you can tell that they come a long way especially Suzu but now I can say they are capable of portraying complicated characters. It is reported that they went intense training playing violin and piano for their respective roles and it paid off well as their performance is believable, which is important to be called a good adaptation and they nailed it in this department. Side characters are the issue here like I didn't feel them, probably lack of screen time I guess, such a shame though because I really want to see more of Anna Ishii, I felt that her talent was wasted in her role.
I feel that many guys will love this film like imagine one day you saw a beautiful girl under a cherry tree then from that moment your life change, happens to me (not under the cherry tree though).
Kaori: Did I find a place in your heart?
Arima: You step all over it.
-literally me
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I Am Hero is based on a Manga of the same name and It has been one of my favorites in recent years and let me remind you Manga is not yet finished so the movie as well, but that doesn't mean the movie will leave you hanging, in fact they adapted the best ARC in the Manga and finished it damn well and they did convey that theme in the Manga in this movie, so what is the theme? Well just read damn the title my friends.
The story revolves around Hideo who is a once a promising mangaka but his dreams always stay out of reach for the reason that his characters were pretty normal like him, he has a relationship that is about to end, in short he is somewhat your typical loser protagonist. One day zombie apocalypse happens, miraculously he's one of those who survive then he met this girl that he promised to protect with his life. One interesting thing about this movie is its setting, it is in Japan where there are only few people who owns a gun and our protagonist owns it as a hobby. This gun is vital to the story as owning a shotgun at this situation means you are the king, this became the point of conflict with humans in the story as someone wanting it badly enough to kill for it and the way it serves as a metaphor for Hideo's character development is a work of a mad genius, like only in japan, the land of metaphors.
Visual effect are spectacular as they did something very different here, zombies veins are black, they deform differently once they became zombies, They move and contorts like insects. The sound effects are amazing too, the squishy sounds once their head exploded was done right. Music is intense if it needs to be intense. Song at the end it quite nice, it captures the atmosphere of the movie well.
Oizumi Yo gives a solid performance his zero to hero transformation was believable, though he doesn't look like the character in the Manga at least his persona reflects hideo, kudos to him. As for Nagasawa Masami and Arimura Kasumi, they were at least mediocre. I was especially disappointed with Nagasawa Masami's character cause that character is very different from the manga, her character supposed to be a baddass. Kasumi Arimura's character didn't do as much here so I can't asses how he did in this film.
So how would this stack up against other zombie titles? well let's say to me it made zombies scary again and kind off remind me why this genre has been one of the favorites for these past decade and that last minutes was a FREAKING-INTENSELY-GORY-HEAD-EXPLODING FINALE.
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This is an intensely claustrophobic experience and I am not even a claustrophobic person. They really capture the emotion during the situation, the camera angle, the sounds from falling rocks and the dust particles are what makes it possible. I like the way they insert comedic moments in the situation, it’s hilarious but makes sense, they played it brilliantly. Aside from suspense, the drama is pretty heavy here as the dilemma falls to the people involved like the rescue leader and his wife, you will feel sympathy for them.
The CGI is brilliant, realistic, Hollywood level. The soundtrack will creep you as it brilliantly conveys that situation, lack of sound at some parts that suddenly broken by falling rocks or footsteps is brilliant, it added up to the horror element in the movie. Cinematography is insanely beautiful just made the acting better at some part.
Solid performance from the cast like Ha Jeong Woo, Oh Dal Su and Donna bae they are exceptionally brilliant but we need to commend Nam Ji Hyun for what she has done here because it’s her character that added up layer to the movie and she nailed it brilliantly.
That joke at the end is so good that it adds .5 to my score.
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THE GOOD
What I like is the formula for each episode, like out of nowhere the yakuza boss will cook a dish, he will explain the proper way to prepare each dish which I am sure most people don't know. While they are eating the yakuza boss will explain what he did to make it delicious then our loser protagonist will make a commentary about the food while wearing his hilarious face LMAO, and as if it's not enough, after they were done eating, the yakuza boss will throw a meaningful comment that will connect the food to the lives of our characters LOL.
Those dishes in this drama are not that hard to do as some ingredients are pretty common and sometimes the yakuza boss improvised if some ingredients were not available.
THE BAD
Although the story has a nice twist at the end, it is still disappointing. I said this because the first episodes are good and it seems it is going to be a great drama but as the main story progress it didn't end up quite well, the plot got messed up and I'm quite annoyed when they forced that romance which in my opinion was so unnecessary.
Too much slapstick comedy as if they want to reiterate how loser the main character is, we got it, he is a loser and it's not even funny sometimes.
CHARACTERS
I like the chemistry between our 3 characters, it is a food drama anyway and it damn funny seeing their hilarious face while namase was explaining with his straight face. Main character has interesting group of friends, I said interesting cause they are the types who are most likely won't get along, rich kid, hardcore otaku(tho they had to cut his character in the middle cause it seems the actor did some sh*t in real life), BL manga lover and your typical loser main guy.
I've seen a lot of jdramas with stupid plots and I hadn't thought that this type of drama could be informative but ironically it is. I learned a lot like how to properly cook rice, the best way to drink beer, better way to cook fried rice, using yakisoba noodles for spaghetti and some methods that I didn't know exist.
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Before watching this I already knew that the director is Norihiro Koizumi, the same guy who directed Taiyou no uta(movie) and the liar and his lover so I am confident that this would be a good adaptation when I first heard about it and I am not wrong. He is great creating meaningful scenes for the reason that cinematography is one of his strongest points especially long shots, people who saw taiyou no uta know what I mean. The other thing is that he is great in showing the emotions of his characters, even an angle where only back of a person is seen. He's an actor's director, the one who makes his actors looks better and probably the reason why Suzu Hirose looks so fine here.
Visuals in this movie is so damn fine as slow motion in those karuta battle works so damn well, it gives those scenes so much impact, also give kudos to editing . The music they use really adds up to the feels of the movie it makes such scenes epic and those battles engaging. The only complaint I have is the song they use in the end, I'm a huge perfume fan but that the song didn't capture the whole atmosphere of the movie.
Perhaps the best casting in a live action ever as all those character are well played, a great ensemble of talented young cast that would probably become A class actors in the future namely Suzu Hirose, Mone Kamishiraishi, Hiroya shimizu, Nomura Shuhei, Mackenyu, Mayu Matsuoka. At first I was bit worried that suzu hirose might not give justice to the role, although I still felt the same in the first movie but this second movie prove me wrong. I think it's just right to cast her as chihaya, she is fun, she's passionate and she has done a nice job of giving energy and freshness to the character. Mayu matsuoka nailed the role as the queen, she really looks like queen, spot on casting, but more than looks it's the acting that makes her standout in this movie, her facial expressions and that way she handled the character change, she's a versatile actress indeed. What I thought would be the cutest card battle ever ended up becoming the most emotional card battle I had witnessed as it serves as a venue for the character development of chihaya and the queen, this is really important because this is the theme they wanted to convey here, like in any sport solo or team and definitely in life "doing it with friends is better than alone".
I agree that most Manga and Anime should not be made into a live action but stories that are so good should be shown in different platforms and chihayafuru is among them. Also, the good thing about watching a live action is that it would be a fascinating experience if the feels from watching an anime translates well into live, I will never get tired of watching live action for this reason.
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One positive aspect is its semi eerie atmosphere. I've never seen such contrast with movie's setting and it's tone, the main lead's vacation with his wife is quite possibly the gloomiest vacation ever.
The sound is fantastic and whoever is responsible for it needs to be praised. He skillfully extracted those nature sounds which helps creating that fantastic semi eerie atmosphere. The location for this movie is beautiful too and the director didn't make shy in showing that.
Acting is quite strong, nishijima and takeshi kitano are both solid, and shiori is a bit of a revelation here. I see it as a start for her on tackling more mature roles. But as we reach the conclusion part, it gives us the ultimate headscratcher, you'll ask yourself "just what the heck did I watch".
Recommended for people who enjoys using all their braincells while figuring out what the heck is happening in the movie.
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One of the most important contemporary directors of today, Shunji Iwai gives us a suspenseful emotional ride in his latest film "A Bride for Rip Van Winkle". It reminds me a lot of "All about Lily Chou Chou"(also directed by Iwai) on how it uses the internet as the main element in the movie, how it affects characters minds and their relationship, simple chatting before social media now. This movie will make you realize how social media affects our society, how most of us make it our safe haven and sometimes create a fake identity and how that fake identity would factor in constructing our own, not giving much of a story away, the theme would be so obvious if you compare the 2 relationships of our main character had here, one living with lies and the other ironically real. Having said that, the theme in this movie was so strong and possibly the first time that was explored to this extent and just like Iwai said "I would like to show how we take to living in this world that our ancestor left us", so thought provoking indeed.With 3 hours long this is perhaps the second longest Japanese movie I've ever seen next to Love Exposure and that is mainly because most climactic scenes were all shown in slow motion, it seems the director reiterates the point of what we should feel, some may be bother by it but I'm not as I see the reason for it, scenes before those slow-mos were so subtle so it's like a storm after a calm sea. Another reason is the criticism he is known for which is his film has a tendency to drag and some scenes were like that especially scenes that has metaphor in it or with meaningful dialogues, if you're like me who is into that then this will make the movie more engaging to you.
The film is basically a character study of a Nanami(Haru Kuroki), a part time teacher who is like a shadow, she has no personality, the film lets us follow her as how her character develops throughout the story, with Iwai's directing and Haru Kuroki's acting this film is an immersive experience. You can separate the movie into 3 parts the classic fall, perserverance, and finding happiness. The first act started when Nanami meets this guy on social media then without much thinking she eventually marries him, but the problem is she didn't have the ideal family, her parents were divorced and seems like their relatives broke the ties between them. Then she decided to hire Amuro(Gou ayano), a guy she met on social media, a jack of all trade ala Gintama, it is Amuro who provide fake relatives to her wedding. The end of the first act is strong as Nanami is humiliated and defeated and that first act sets up to a more interesting second and even third act. When I said suspenseful emotional ride I mean it as plot twist after plot twist, lies after lies got revealed but the biggest mystery is the title itself "A Bride for Riple Winke", what is relevance of that title in the story? Who is Riple Winkle? Well the way the movie reveals it is so clever, it's a work of a mad genius and definitely I didn't see that coming at all. Just like most of Iwai's films this film features misfits characters, those cut from society, this movie will depict their engaging journey and how will those character find love and happiness. Although with that engaging premise and roller coaster of emotions I had, still one important question in the movie remains a mystery although I'm sure that that was intended, I experienced that in All About Lily Chou Chou and I experienced it again here, I just don't know what to feel, I just thought of giving you a heads up cause that might annoyed you as well.
Great Cinematography to me is not just beautiful but also meaningful, it's just like in painting great painting should fascinate you, it should make you look closer to examine the details and not just stare at one and says "this painting is beautiful", you could have all the colors on your palette but if it's dull it's dull. Movies by Iwai are the best example for this they have the best cinematography I've ever seen that makes the movie so immersive and this movie is not an exception, his emphasis for lighting was really obvious here, it is stunning, extracting the natural colors in a scene, a perfectionist he truly is. Music really adds up to the emotion in those melodramatic scenes, particularly is that one scene with Nanami after the first act, the Visuals, the Slow-mo, the Music, the acting, it is perfect, I literally pause the movie and gather myself, stupid smile left on my face, instant goosebumps.
Iwai really loves using subtle actors in his films and the reason for that is because that kind of acting is most suited for his style of filming, before he had Aoi Yu and this time Haru Kuroki. Haru reminds me of Aoi Yu a lot they can even switch roles here and the strength of the character will remain the same, of course I'm not saying Aoi Yu is better, they are equally talented and Haru might even have some edge in drama and definitely in comedy. About haru's performance, I am one hundred percent convinced that this was her best performance I've seen from her and mind you I've seen a lot where she is considered great namely "emperor's cook" "juhan shutai" "little house" "solomon's perjury". The character she played here is so complex that one wrong move would make that character annoying, one wrong casting and the movie would be ruined, hard to explain it without laying spoilers, only you would realize what I meant when you watched it. There is one character I can't reveal here because of spoilers and it's a shame because I was equally impressed with her with haru and her name is not even included here on MDL. The character is crippled yet strong; she's like a playful spirited fairy and those eyes omg. The chemistry between them was magnetic, a total contrast to each other yet they share similarities, they want happiness. Gou Ayano although not as good as those two, it is his charisma that makes the character more mysterious and that is really important as that character is somewhat the one who drives the story. I have this theory about him that I will post on the comment section if you want, just click the spoiler button.
Movies like this makes me realize why I was fascinated, why I admire Japanese cinema so much, it is just that there is no other country that can offer me a story like this. Movie like this make me realize what kind of taste I have for movies, why I crave for original plot with clever twist, why I love thought provoking themes as those makes the movie to me an immersive experience. With that said, even with some draggy scenes or things remains unanswered I just couldn't give this lower than 9. Not a masterpiece but a must watch.
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Knowing koreeda style, it’s given that this will become one of the best family dramas I will have seen and I’m not disappointed. It has a lot of metaphors that makes me love Japanese cinema so much cause if you got what the filmmaker is trying to convey then the experience would be so much much different . This drama’s pace is really slow and probably the slowest I’ve seen in a drama but what I really like is the way it reveals about each characters bit by bit although it still remains open. But this technique of slowly unveiling the story is not much engaging as other koreeda films , it didn’t have that ommph that I usually loves in his film and that may be due to the fact that this one is longer which kinda destroys it’s momentum at least for me. The story that looks simple at first will only becomes interesting when the conflicts on each characters gets explained as it is tied with the main theme in this drama, it’s fascinating and original. My favorite would be that by Moe chan, I was touched as I learned why she had been acting like that. This drama's use of subtle humour is one of its strongest points for me like that inclusion of kuna in Ryota's Dream, they provide meaningful dialogues that really contributes so much in the drama. Also, if your into cooking you might find this interesting, they are presenting different kind of dish per episode as part of ryotas wife job and other characters too. My favorite would be Aoi Miyazaki’s ramen salad it’s really interesting cause I haven’t thought it was possible.
The cast here is not your typical cast you would see on TV as some of them are established movie actors that appears on critically acclaimed films heck even some of them are regulars on koreeda movies. Abe hiroshi(Ryota Tsuboi) who is one of the best actors in Japan plays the main role here, what I can say is that he is a naturally funny guy, his character can make you laugh without putting so much effort on it. Aoi miyazaki plays this mysterious beautiful girl in the countryside, it’s her character that drives the story at the beginning and probably my favorite character in the drama, she’s so damn pretty here just saying. Her passion to save her hometown is well played, subtle performance but I really felt it. It surprises me how I loved YOU character here she's flawed yes but she has her reasons and it kinda makes sense if you think of it, I should have despised it cause it contradicts on what I was taught as a Human being. Tsuboi moe chan is probably the most fascinating kid I’ve encountered in a drama, her curiosity makes her think mature at times but it’s her innocence that makes her think like that in the first place. It’s fun to see her tricking her teachers and classmates and also having mature talk with her parents LMAO. Sadao Abe not the one who monopolized the taxi business in the place but that kuna in Ryota's dream, I love this character a lot as he conveys what our main character is thinking while the story progress. As this is a family drama, chemistry between characters would be so much important and I really like what I saw. Hiroshi Abe and YOU had just became the best sister brother relationship in a drama for me, just like in real life they had misunderstandings and it’s fun seeing them pick on each other given how old they were, you could really tell how close they were.
Just like other koreeda works, this is definitely not for everyone, it’s not your typical Jdrama on TV, actually it’s quite the opposite. It doesn’t have characters with Exaggerated facial expressions, no pop music playing on the background, the pace is really slow it may bore you especially if you can’t appreciate subtle jokes and mild dramas, convoluted theme but not the storyline. It’s one of those dramas that would leave a profound impression on you, not because of how the drama impress you but the rather left you with powerful conflicting emotions.
I WILL GIVE THIS THIS DRAMA 8 RED KUNA HATS OUT OF 10.
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The concept of time travel has always been fascinating and that alone might be enough reason why you want to pick this, but that's not all there's more to it, and why this drama is worth watching. Unlike other dramas using time travel as a plot, this one totally makes sense at all, they have every bit of explanation to all our questions, and that is important because a plot that makes no sense is a big turn off. The characters here act like real high school students unlike characters in other high school dramas which have tendency to act too mature for their age. As a viewer doing that hurts the experience, removing too much reality in my opinion is unnecessary and annoying. It's not hard to spot this we've been in high school once in our life and in this drama that scene on the beach was the best example on how to portray real high school characters in drama. The emotion in that awkward situation looks authentic and flashback came to me as similar thing happen during high school.
The chemistry of our trio is by all means great, one of the best chemistry I've seen in my years of watching Japanese drama. They are fun characters but what's more fun is watching their interactions together which make me think that they are real friends in real life. As for the romance, I'm no authority on this due to the fact that maybe I'm not a romantic person or I just don't give a damn, but I think you will get what you want in this drama. Five episodes for this drama is just perfect which makes the pacing not draggy at all, though I wouldn't mind if they made additional episodes for other side characters just like in episode 2. That episode was well crafted which makes me teary-eyed a bit.
Music, I love those 2 songs in this drama particularly the ending song. I've read the lyrics and it really suits the story and captures the atmosphere of this drama, they also insert the song at the most appropriate time. Those scenes as it plays were perfectly done, those transitions the effects added much to the emotions I've had.
No words can describe how glad I am to see Kuroshima Yuina back again. I always knew this girl is capable of great feats just that her performance in some drama or movies recently was average. When I said characters here acts like real high school students I was mostly referring to her. Every gestures of her character are just like you would expect if an innocent mindless high school student gets this ability. She uses time travel as if nothing and she's fun to watch every time she doing it. I even put myself on Shohei's shoes and thinking she pain in the ass for not thinking of the consequences. She has grown into a great actress far from that girl who continuously taps honoo-kun to get his attention.
I am particularly honest towards boy band members which IMO most of them suck, but I always give credit where credit is due. Kikuchi Fuma who played Fukamachi Shohei did well of portraying a guy from year 2122 who experience love for the first time. He makes the development of the character looks believable. Takeuchi Ryoma on the other hand had less screen time but that does not mean he's the weakest as he nailed those dramatic scenes convincingly and you could really feel the frustration from him. This guy has the dramatic chops to play more serious roles. Lastly Yoshimoto Miyu, you are so damn cute, I just wished that they make you appear more in this drama but anyway hope for more drama from you in the future.
So the ultimate question, Is the ending sad? Well it depends on your own perspective, all I can say is that there's a cute plot twist in the end that makes Mihane remain positive and that was brilliant.
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70% of the film was shot in my country Philippines, though they didn't mention its name, they just shot here as a location for this fictional place called Republic of Penam. It's obvious that this is a high budget film as there were lots of explosions, they even destroyed many vehicles. The special effects were neat, it didn't look fake, I've watched it with only 360x640 resolution and most of the time you can spot if it's fake with this resolution. The action scenes were superb and it seems they level up this time in this department. This series has amazing music, it's haunting but also catchy, but they didn't capitalize on using it as much this time.
The acting is still solid, though Hidetoshi's character change a bit, he gone van damne mode this time, knocking innocent people around HAHA. Teruyuki kagawa, no need to explain haven't seen this guy fail, also his father and daughter relationship with sugasaki hana is very well played. My favorite characters are still here namely, Shingai and Higashi, played by Hasegawa and Ikematsu, the former providing the comic relief and the latter still cool as he is. As Shingai only appears later in the movie it is Matsuzaka Tori's character provide the gore and creepiness throughout, and Tori played it close to perfection. Other two villains were played by Iseya Yusuke and Beat Takeshi even if they didn't do as much it's still nice to see those 2 well respected actor in this movie. If there's negative here it is Yoko Maki's character, she's just a decoration but it's not the actors fault it's the script.
Although I didn't quite like this, I still enjoy the experience. It's just fascinating to see you own country as a location for a Japanese production. It's also fascinating to hear Tagalog words in a Japanese movie, though most of them were cursed words like "put tank in a mall" if you happen to play online games XD. It's fascinating to hear Yusuke Iseya talking in Tagalog, his accent is quite good too. It's fascinating to see Higashi doing crazy stunts along that road that I used to pass by during college. Having said that, this is more big deal to me than any Hollywood production shot in my country.
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The story is not new to me, there are movies/dramas that done this like going back to countryside, reviving small towns, stories like that. But that's not even the main theme, it's about decisions we make in life, dreams vs. responsibility, finding our own happiness etc. Having said that, a lot of people could relate specially if you feel you're on the stage where you are facing a decision that would greatly affect your life. I admit that they could present the story better, and there are some parts I felt not needed, but what I like is how they done scenes which were so uplifting and the music helps too. The cinematography is the best selling point here, it's not just beautiful but meaningful, that bicycle on rails is creative and whoever thought about that idea as a metaphor is freaking impressive.
Tanimura Mitsuki is the only known actress here, at least for me, and although their acting is not remarkable at least it's natural, all of them, and that is the only requirement for this kind of story. If I were to choose who's the most pitiful actress in Japan It would be Tanimura Mitsuki, not in real life though but because of the roles she plays. She has been playing roles that experienced terrible things and terrible might be an understatement, so it's nice to see her doing roles like this. To me she is one of the most underrated actresses in Japan that deserves more main roles in the future.
Thanks to the Subbers of this wonderful drama because I'll be honest here that when I saw this I thought that no one would sub this for the reason that most of the actors were unknown. These subbers were like heroes to me because I wouldn't have been able to watch this if wasn't them. Really appreciate the effort they put here and their taste for picking this.
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From time to time, we sometimes stumbled a gem in watching films, and this movie is just like that, a cult classic in the making that every fan of this genre would become happy to include.this masterpiece to their collection. A film by sion sono who is perhaps the most surreal Fimmaker today, just expect the unexpected while watching his films, but would you believe me if I say that this film is maybe most suitable for children, kinda mindf*cked right, well that is exactly what I’ve felt while watching this movie. Totally absorbing film, especially if you got what the filmmaker is trying to convey, he ties this lovable family drama about a turtle and a frustrated rock star with issues we have in this world right now..war, capitslism, ignorance among other sh*ts. You would feel the love put by sion in this movie as the development and the events were meticulously done, especially that ending sequence which I will honestly compare to fish story.The plot is as weirdly as it gets, an awkward guy who dreams to become a rock star got picked a lot from work or wherever he goes XD, due to loneliness he purchased this turtle who became his best friend, he talks a lot with his little friend about his frustrations, dreams and his love for this equally awkward girl at his work. The plot got separated when he flushed his little friend in a toilet cause his office mates made fun of him for having a turtle as his best friend, and this is where the brilliance of this film had begun. Due to regret and loneliness our main lead started humming a melody until he created this song that unifies the nation titled “love and peace”.
Music is perfect, the main song “love and peace” is surpringly catchy, knowing it was created due to his love for his turtle with help of this homeless guy that has some sort of ***spoilers not gonna tell. They have variations of that song throughout the movie so it doesn’t sound repetitive.
There are 2 types of characters in this movie the humans and the non humans, the talking toys. The CGI were far from brilliant, but this just mean that you don’t need cutting edge animation tech if your going to depict a character, what they use here is stop motion animation which IMO is what makes these characters more alive, its like magic. I love this non human characters so I was mindblown by how sion sono was able to pull this, the doll who is looking to be loved again, the angsty cat that act their leader and the robot that serves as the brain for them…these characters plays huge part in the movie. Hiroki hasegawa is somewhat revelation in this movie, yes I watched him before from dramas like mozu and date so I know his versatility, but his transformation from a dork to a wild rockstar is something to note off. Pikadon, our main leads turtle friend gives the best performance by a turtle I’ve ever seen, kinda overshadows hasegawa in some scenes, literally LOL.
A movie that would leave you a strong message and a song that was so catchy that you would hum its melody even after the ending credits.
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Well the story is simple a guy bakes pastries for a living, selling them under these beautiful cherry trees, in a street side shop that he doesn't own. He is somewhat unhappy with his life, because of certain events in his past. One of his close customers is a middle school girl who is also troubled by her relationship with her mother. One day an old lady appears and asks if she can be a part timer in his shop, he politely refused because he thought she could not do the job, but the old lady keeps coming until he accepts her when he has tasted her red bean paste. It is the word of mouth about Sentaro's improved Dorayaki that makes people mob their shop, but it is also the reason why the shop became deserted. At first the movie seems it is about food as you witness how much time is needed to prepare the perfect red bean paste. Until you reach into a point where you realize there is much more to it and the main point of the movie is so strong that might leave you in tears. Aside from how people were connected to nature, which was Kawase's trademark, there are also 2 main points the director wants to convey, which were "the stigma of leprosy" and "the value and meaning of life", the former is the most captivating but I find the latter rewarding.
Kawase as a director is always been impressive, her eyes and ears for films is in my opinion, unmatched. Her visuals as she captured those nature shots and blends it well with her poetic dialogues were very much engaging. Her camera work that sometimes would make you feel that you were watching a documentary was able to show the emotions of her characters perfectly. The way she captures background sounds works well for what she have, her canvass, and that would make a certain scene so poignant.
I've already said eyes and ears but now I will talk about the feels which was missing from the recent movies I've seen from her.
"we want to live in society where the sun shines"
If a single quote can knocked you off your feet, this is it, perhaps the most powerful quote I've encountered watching a movie. This quote left me bawling for tears literally, as the scene after this quote had been said were directed perfectly. The emotions that the director is trying to convey goes to me, it did hit me as it clearly show that the stigma on people who have this disease is still happening even though that Japan have already removed them from isolation since 1996. I even felt guilty that I might probably act the same way towards her like those customers and even Sentaro himself. We are only human, we only judges person based on their looks.
The acting, Nagase Masatoshi, this is the first time I've seen this actor that has this tadanobou asano-ish aura, well it may be disrespectful to addressed him this way, but I was impressed with him. He was able to show the struggles of his character in subtle way but what I was really impressed is his scene during the end. Uchida Kyara, who is kirin kiki's real granddaughter shows some promise although not to the extent of how jun yoshinaga impresses me, she managed to somewhat stick and not falls off just as a background character cause among the 3 characters , her character has less emphasis. Then its kirin kiki, who makes the time flew so fast, cause I was captivated by her acting the whole time. No need to pity her character, her character is already done with that pity phase. It is her character whose last purpose is to enrich the lives our other 2 characters, to show them that we were born into this world to see it and listen to it, since that is the case we don't have to be someone, that each of us has meaning to our lives. Kirin kiki has been the best Japanese actress for me since that time I saw her on akunin. She has done performances that melts your heart from movies chronicles of my mother, akunin, Tokyo Tower: Mom Me, and Sometimes Dad. You might just recognize her on supporting roles and that might be enough to call her great actress, but if you really want to see what she's capable of as an actress you need to see her in a main role.
Check my Blog for other reviews & other JDramas stuffs. (｡◕‿‿◕｡)
https://thatjapanesedramaguy.blogspot.com/
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