Touching, progressive and informative
This movie is the type to shoot an arrow straight thru the heart, some people will watch this and think, oh a story about the struggles of a person with a trans identity, and do not get me wrong it does show a pretty clear depiction of the day to day struggles as well as part of the journey of a trans woman, the strength in this movie is its portrayal of motherhood and family as no one seemed to react when Tomo was living with her negligent, slightly alcoholic biological mother but put her together with a trans woman and suddenly people seem to care...I loved the family moments, the struggles the over protective mother and the great palett of motherhood showed here, what makes a good mother? what makes a family? I also loved how it showed realistic ways to deal with life outside the norm as well how relatable the characters are.
The show does a great job showing both the struggles and pain a child may face due to grownups %&€%#& €%#%#% "€("€("#B"##€="#€"€("=#(%"(%". Including neglect, bullying and loss of strength to live without neglecting the strong hold parents have on their children.
I am a little bit disappointed they casted a cis man as Rinko, he did do a good job portraying her but it would have been better if a tans woman or woman would have been casted to play this role. However I do not know much about the industry in Japan but in a better wold that will be done.
I have seen that some people complained about the obsession with boobs, however I think those matter more than many people think as they are clear markers and what most people notice first. "Imagine being a girl but never getting boobs".
I also love the humour here and there, there is a lot of funny kick up moments, family fun and so much love in this movie it is hard not to fall for the characters.
Definitely a movie I strongly recommend to all...
Story that needs to be told: 10
Bring out your anger towards society: 10
Family: 10
Exitment: medium
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More BYUN YO HAN PLEASE
Lol I think my slump is making me rate things higher xDSo the good:
Byun Yo Han as a 1st ML
Byun Yo Han with long hair and a beard
Byun Yo Han action scenes
Byun Yo Han and Won Jin Ah as a married couple
The story and development did keep me engaged
The bad:
Short yet long
The last fighting scene got too comical
I actually wished for more undercover activities
It was kinda like squid game cop guy's pov, not much depth and too much "action"
Like I wished for the MLs to form a bond so the betrayal got deeper
I did not hate BYH not turning evil to be undercover but I also would've liked a bit more, it all felt like it happened in 2 days
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This review may contain spoilers
The theme is important
This film has many layers but underneath it all there's one main central theme that people keep overlooking because all they talk about is the "twists" and change of events. The main theme is that this is a TRAGEDY.Once you see the last scene where you see laughs, smiles, an innocence that abounds in the lake countryside, this was a huge tragedy and once you see know how it ends you can't help but feel bad for them. I know everyone wants to talk about the turn in direction, or how they predicted or did not predict the outcome, above it all is how it ends.
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A silly movie that takes itself way too seriously
This movie did everything wrong. For example:-Canons shoot at wall once, it's enough to crumble it. WRONG! It takes many days of bombarding a single section of wall to collapse it. The movie had such an opportunity to portray what it is like to be under constant bombardment, and didn't take it.
-A single breach is portrayed as a big deal. WRONG! A single breach is a bottleneck that's disastrous for the attacker more than the defender.
-No one is fighting or marching in any sort of formation, ever. Soldiers march in a loose group of rifles, crossbowmen, spearmen and swordsmen.
-Even when cavalry charges at them, the rifles stay at front, and at no point are replaced by pikemen/spearmen. Could it be that koreans were so stupid that they didn't know pike and shoot formations in 1630's? Is this what this movie is saying?
-Somehow, everyone hears the officer shouting orders in the middle of the battle.
-Armor is like paper.
-Most footsoldiers are armed with swords, not polearms.
-They send the blacksmith on a suicidal mission. Why the blacksmith? The movie also implies he was the only blacksmith the fortress had.
-Little is shown from the perspective of common soldiers. It's just constant back and forth between the king and his one-dimensional advisors. Also, very funny how the advisors can echo the words their representative said in unison. Did they practice for it?
-The movie shows from the very beginning that the plan to defend that fortress was always a VERY BAD IDEA. It's underlined at every possible moment, to the point it's silly. It makes everyone who decided to defend despite such overwhelming odds look like a suicidal imbecile.
-Thus, when they finally surrender, the scene of king sloooowly prostrating himself before the Khan is not sad nor tragic nor melodramatic. It's just silly. It was the obvious outcome. And if it wasn't supposed to be obvious, the movie made no effort in portraying that, we weren't given any clue, any number, any ray of hope that maybe the idea to defend wasn't so bad after all.
-At the end of the movie, the conservative proponent of defence says "things will change for the better only when we all pass, and king passes, and kingdom passes, and all old things pass away....". Yeee, just drop feudalism and install democracy already. That's totally what a noble in 17th-century korea would have said.
And probably more, but whatever. It's a bad movie, it lacks historical authenticity, and fails to makes us care about the conflict portrayed. You cheer for the antagonists, but probably because you don't see them enough to witness them doing dumb and illogical things like the main characters do.
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Some things are better left unseen, indeed.
I am a huge fan of horror movies, especially Asian horror movie production is my favourite and my friends don't want to watch any horror movies with me since Kairo (2001), which I honestly understand. So you can imagine I was excited for this movie, been seeing posts about how this movie ranked #1 few times, how creepy it is... Well, I was quite dissapointed.N O T S P O I L E R F R E E / N O M A J O R S P O I L E R S
Kar Mun lost her vision when she was little, spending years living in a haze, not knowing how her own face looks like. Now at 18yo she got a chance to have her vision repaired with corneal transplantation, risky, yet in the end succesful and she can start learning to recognize things not by touch, smell or sound, but by looking at them. Kar Mun is ready to see all the beautiful things this world has to offer, except she starts seeing thing in the corner of her eye, figures that no one else sees or can talk to. It's quite maddening experience for someone, who just got back their sight, so she decides to look into who donated the cornea to her. Hopefully that would explain what is happening to her...
I definitely liked the gloomy atmosphere, the dark and grim colour palette, some of the shots were pretty good and you could feel how the heroin was slowly sinking into despair. Unfortunatelly the movie tried too hard to deliver some jump scares, scary scenes weren't working for me, because I could tell what to expect. The creepiest shot was the ghost lady with her kid standing at the restaurant, licking the meat, that gave me the ick, other than that... Won't probably even watch the rest of this saga. The concept is good, but I would rather invest my time into something else.
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Movie adaptations just don't work for Jigoku Shoujo.
As someone, who's seen complete Jigoku Shoujo the anime series and is ready to read the manga, I feel like a movie adaptation just doesn't do any of the characters justice. TV series would have more space to introduce everyone properly and imerse you more in the story. Which this movie is honestly lacking and I'm not sure who should be the target audience, but about that later.N O T S P O I L E R F R E E / N O M A J O R S P O I L E R S
Did you ever felt hatered so strong, held such a powerful grudge, that you would be able to curse someone for hell? What if I tell you there's something called Hell Correspondence, that only those filled with anger and pain can access when the clock strikes midnight? Would you do it, would you send someone to hell? Not for free of course, it would cost you your soul. You will get to live your life in peace, but once you die, your soul will also go to hell, because once you curse someone, the curse will come back right to you.
Sometimes pain makes us do irrational things and it's quite easy to be blinded by our emotions. And once the rumor about Hell Correspondence brokes out and becames a urban legends, you can be sure there will be someone, who will try to access the page once midnigh comes. Mikuriya Sanae is one of those people. Scared for life after her attacker slashes her face with a kitchen knife and mocks her in his apology letter, she decides to make a deal with Enma to take him to hell, cursing herself with the same fate. On the other hand, Ichikawa Miho makes deal with Enma to save her friend from being sacrificed by popular male idol in live show...
Okay, so, what we got - brief introduction to how Hell Correspondence works, no lore, no history background, no other explanation about Enma Ai and her team, their reasoning and how this whole thing works, what all they can do and how the hell works, because for everyone hell looks differently. So the most interesting things were left out.
Enma Ai was actually my biggest disapointment, her character felt bland, ghost like (which she isn't) and not creepy enough. The flower animation for when she took people to hell was quite nice, but I honestly missed the bell on her bracelet ringing when she did that, and Wanyuudou as the carriage that takes you to hell. I also have to wonder why none of the Hell's Correspondence client weren't given the chest tattoo as symbol of closing the deal with Enma. I guess it didn't suit any purpose in this story, in anime it was rather important detail.
Overal this movie was lacking any characters that you could feel for, except for Kudo, but yeah, he also doesn't get to live for long. No good soundtrack, no background that makes Jigoku Shoujo interesting, just B grade movie that I feel will piss of fans of this series and confuse people that never heard of the original. Unfortunatelly live actions will always have problem to uplive to their ancestors.
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It's a rewatch, like trying to reminisce because I also happened to have forgotten some of the contents of this film, so I decided to re-watch it.
Inoue Mao & Masaki Okada looks so young in here, they are also quite good at building chemistry and doing dramatic scenes, and they're made me crying hu hu hu.
Enough... enough... I think that's all I can type hu hu hu.
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Honestly I think this original version and the remake are both good, both giving the same level of pain and stinging, except for the burning anger in my heart that I can't repeat because I already know the ending.
The storyline is the same but there are many differences in it. Like Mayu, played by Atsuko Maeda, it is said that she works as a dental hygienist but she is never shown working, while in the remake, her character is a nurse, shown when she works. It didn't have much effect on me, because the actress played well, so they both experience the same suffering.
Hmm... what should I type more? I don't feel like to compared further of this original and the remake, also not really want to dig deeper.
Ohh...
Atsuko Maeda or Acchan, playing Mayu is built into a figure of dream girlfriend, she is kawaii, adorable, loveable, appealing, sweet, enchanting, captivating, endearing, precious and she also seems smart and a future wife material as long as the man can appreciate and take care of her. Her voice is charming, feels soothing, I want to hear it every day, that "Takkun~" makes my heart flattered because it's so sweet.
Kinda wish I was born earlier so I can experience Acchan in her AKB48 days. Doesn't mean I regret to born younger tho, because I love my kami oshi in my Profile Picture.
I don't feel like to mention the remake, just in case there's somebody who have watched the remake but more stupid than me, that they're not realize they already watched the remake so they're still surprise with the ending. I don't want to ruin it for them if they read this blabbering.
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The ghost, to be honest, is scary from the moment when she was just smiles but blurry in old film footage until her laughter with those black teeth becomes clear when she face our director's character. Her make up isn't as scary as Sadako and Kayako, but her laughing expression can give you have nightmares.
Only 3 stars because it still make me shiver, and now I want to sleep cause it's already late but i don't think i can.
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You could say this film gives a little insight into what is happening inside the airline, and shows a lot of work that revolves around aviation such as pilots, flight attendants, the ground-crew, mechanics, dispatchers, controllers, and the bird patrol crew, then shows how their importance in supporting a flight.
I've never been on an airplane, so I don't know if what's shown here is realistic or not, but I like how the characters here are shown to be very disciplined and professional despite facing many challenges, of course, none of which is easy in all jobs.
The flight drama is thick but Mr. Shinobu is good at throwing jokes at the right time which makes me laugh a lot in serious situations, like when Capt. Suzuki wanted to announce the flight after take off, but the channel was still connected to the dispatcher, then Suzuki was laughed at by the dispatcher, then Mr. Hanada told him to repeat the announcement but Suzuki becoming nervous then he messed up and laughed at by the passangers, and anyway you have to watch it yourself to enjoy the jokes because there are still many funny moments.
As for the actors, they do their respective roles very well, but who catches my eyes was Ayase Haruka, her acting is pretty good but she's pretty and very kawaii, I think I fallin for her. I'll try to find out about her after this.
If you reread it from above, it seems that I really like this film and I deserve to give it 5 stars, but unfortunately this film doesn't give the satisfaction that it gave me after I watched Swing Girls.
That's all from me, thank you.
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The execution is really good and safe, doesn't do anything weird and stupid, it is also supported by the acting of Yamazaki Kento and Kawaguchi Haruna which produces quite good chemistry, making Hase attempt to become Kaori's "friend" feels worth it.
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From there I bonded with the characters, especially Suzuki, Takuo, Saito, Sekiguchi and Tanaka; because they can be called the founding members of Swing Girls who try to live their dreams and passions that grew unintentionally.
In the rest of the film, i just enjoying the jazz performance which is very cool while watching the characters of the young people do it with passion, burning enthusiasm and sacrificed a lot of valuable things in their lives to do jazz.
I've read other user review, and must agree that this film better than Whiplash, despite has the same great jazz performance but this film has kawaii girls who sheds blood, sweat & tears.
Absolutely one of the best film I've ever watch and rank up high there.
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Meomchuji mothae more more more and more~
Geureoni han beon deo~
I wanna have more more more more more and more~
Meomchugi shireo more more more and more~
Geureoni han beon deo~
—————
I was expecting to watch a pink film with silly story but this is actually darker, so artistic.
Twice song's "More & More" somehow pop up in my head after i finished this film, and kinda fit I think with the relationship between Michio and Aki that as the time goes by they're together, what they did also getting more & more weird, crazy and beyond reasonable.
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What is certain is that this film has qualified actors and actresses to build a good film and indeed there is nothing I can complain about from their acting performance here. They manage to build a good chemistry, injecting enough emotion to feel attached to their characters.
I myself prefer the story of Mother, Joo Hee and Oh Joon Ha because it is more emotional and when I saw their love story my eyes filled with tears, their meeting at the hospital was really heartbreaking, as if they realized that was the end of their story. The story of Ji Hye, who is also played by Son Ye Jin, feels lighter but is actually sweeter, they repeat the story of her mother but in Joon Ha's shoes, and is paired with Jo In Sung as Sang Min which surely makes girls melt.
That's all I want to type. Thanks.
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Painted Skin: The Guo Jingming Edition
5 people found this review helpful
A hidden gem
I came across this short film after watching Wuliang. I never thought a short film would have much impact and my expectations were low but like Wuliang, I was surprised that a short film like this would be on same level as any good full length film.The story will have you stay and watch with anticipation. Focusing well is needed to have a better grasp of what it is all about. The acting is excellent, the screenplay was great, and the narration, although theres quite a bit compared to any full length film, is good and necessary. I believe due to the shortness of the film, the narration was necessary. I hope the director of Wuliang and this film continue directing this kind of film. I am out of words for how good this and Wuliang film are. The lack of adequate promotion for these two films caused a lot of people to miss this great hidden gem.
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