Reviews

NEW CONCEPT WITH POTENTIAL ACTOR!

Well, if starting with the cast, Mr. Hwang Jung Min totally nailed his role! It really looked liked he was kidnapped.

The story started normally like he was kidnapped and slowly it unfolded that they were really tough bastards and then like any other kidnapping movie, he tries to run and confuse the assailants but his every move was nerve-wracking and at some points, he mimicked his famous dialogue from his famous movies in the very tense situation, that scenes were totally over the top.

Overall, all the actors did a great job but there was a little bit of problem with the police, first of all, it showed police as really weak and not able to catch them properly while the actor is powerful and gives the tough fight and the second problem was villain character looked little weak....

Otherwise, the suspense-packed movie with a little tense comedy...

Read More

This movie was so awesome even though it was confusing at some parts.

I really loved the story line and want to see more (so I'm 99% sure I'm going to watch the drama version lol.)

I loved all of the actors but i can't help but to be confused as to who the goddess was he was so obsessed with. And why Hell Girl and the other 3 were somewhat always around him??
Even with the main girl, she always saw Hell Girl before she even summoned her. So i don't really understand that.

I loved her and Haruka friendship..... at the start. But I never understood why she fought so hard for that friendship when she found out what kind of person she really was. Like come on.... she beats her own mother. Wtf even. -_- she even WANTED to be sacrificed. Why send yourself to hell over someone who doesn't want help?

Read More

short and sweet

Overall: A soft 25 minute story about a college tutor and his high school tutee. You can find this on YouTube.

Content Warning: under 18 (assuming, but he could have been 18) and an over 18 year old. Personally, this didn't bother me as their age gap is two or three years and the younger one made the first move. 

What I Liked
- the montage to show that time had passed and they became friends
- I didn't like how it came about, but I actually liked the direction this went and was fine with the ending
- that Tone was clear about his sexual orientation (though the word wasn't subbed, I can guess what it said), but sad he showed internalized homophobia
- Pun doesn't say a lot at the end, but when you think carefully about how he was struggling with school, how he must have worked hard and then selected that college, it says quite a bit

Room For Improvement
- although I kind of understand the sister's reaction, I wish she would have been honest with her brother. Instead, she flat out lies to him when he asks her if she said anything to Tone. She didn't want to be the "bad guy" and made it so it looked like Tone was the jerk. Thankfully, Pun wasn't a moron and saw through things. 
- the subtitles have errors but you can understand what is going on, from 15:20-16 the subtitles are missing, turn on auto translate from the Korean subs to English and it works or check the comments

Read More

Waste of my time

I had high hopes because I saw Yamazaki Kento, but this was by far one of the worst romances I have ever seen. I haven't read nor watched the anime/manga, but this was truly awful.

The story is garbage, 12 year olds on Wattpad are writing better content. The acting and the actors are the only reason I give it above 3/10. The relationship is not only disgusting but also unhealthy and extremely toxic and abusive. I liked Erika's character at the beginning but she lost more and more brain cells as the movie went on. There was NOTHING promising about Kyoya's character and I hated him until the very end. His feelings towards Erika are most definitely not genuine, and the entire dynamic between them is very strange and doesn't make sense. The end was rushed and his character changed all of a sudden, and overall, there was no character development. If the goal of this movie was to hate men, it was accomplished. <3

Read More

Far from perfect and yet more than enough

I sometimes feel like I have mastered the art of being pretentious. I love media analysis, I love picking stories apart and being overly critical and I love finding long, overly-complicated ways to describe why something is supposedly objectively good or bad. But every now and then I come across a piece of media that I just love beyond rationality. That I like more than I feel like I should be technically allowed to. Sometimes, a story can just speak to us, even if it’s objectively flawed.
Well, Upcoming Summer is that film for me.
I didn’t expect much of this film. Until now, no Chinese drama or movie had won me over. I was under the wrong impression, even though I had branched out since discovering K-dramas and had, since then found several Thai, Taiwanese, Pinoy and Japanese shows that I loved, that Chinese cinema simply wasn’t for me. But the trailer of Upcoming summer looked charming enough, that I was willing o give it a chance.
And I’m so happy I did.

There are a few things about this movie that I just find objectively good. For starters, the acting is really strong. Most actors in the C-dramas I had watched in the past, were guilty of over-acting and even though I can get the occasional joy out of watching an actor go way-overboard, it still makes me cringe. But I felt like all the performances here, were more than solid. Noone did too much or too little, the people in Upcoming Summer really just felt like people. The male lead had so much charisma, that even I blushed on several occasion. But I especially lost my heart to our female protagonist, who was childish and strong-willed but in no way frustrating or irritating to watch She really captured that stubbornness that comes with being a young adult without being just a tiny bit unlikable. The chemistry of the two lead actors was absolutely off the charts. All of their interactions felt natural and I couldn’t stop smiling, every single time they were on screen together. But the bond between mother and daughter also stood out to me. What can I say, I just bought all of this. Not one second was I taken out of the story. I believed in the characters, believed in their dreams, hardships and relationships and I sincerely loved them and wanted the best for them.
But the strong performances can also be traced back to the script and especially the dialogue. When I saw the “Fake Dating”-tag on this film, before watching it, I cringed. I know many people love the whole “two characters pretending to go out until they fall in love”-thing, I usually just prefer more maturity in my coming-of-age-stories and the trope is just a tad too Wattpad-fanfiction-y for me. I thought that I was in for another cliché love story with a contrived premise. But this film is everything but. For starters, Upcoming Summer is in no way a romance-movie, it’s a story about friendship and most of all, a story about growing up. And surprisingly enough, I thought Upcoming Summer explored that topic in a strikingly mature and again, very believable way. The dialogue felt deep and poignant but never preachy or unnatural. At no point did it feel like the author was directly talking to the audience. Instead, everything that was said, felt like the natural conclusions to the circumstances our cast was put in. We watched our characters grow as they faced the struggles of adolescence. The film didn’t need to go over the top, didn’t need dark, overly complicated backstories or villains, the pain of your first love, the pain of growing up, was more enough for this to feel impactful.
The cinematography also was great. God is this movie visually stimulating. I wondered at some points if Upcoming Summer wasn’t doing a bit too much, if it wasn’t just a tad too shiny, too grand, if it was just beautiful for the sake of being beautiful, but in the end, it just worked for me. Not a single shot felt flat, every composition conveyed emotion and it was more than easy on the eyes, I really liked the way this was cut as well. I liked all the montages, none of them felt overly long or like a waste of time and the scene at the music festival especially stood out to me in terms of cutting.
The OST is my least favorite part about this film, but I mostly didn’t mind it. I get that they obviously had to include electronic music since that’s part of the premise and some tracks I did sincerely like, but The Chainsmokers just always sound hollow and commercial to me, no matter where they are. This might be a matter of personal preference though.

I can imagine that the ending is a bit controversial. For me, it came too soon, but I could probably watch Chen Chen and Zheng Yu Xing just hanging out and having fun forever. Still, Upcoming Summer left too many threads untied for my taste. For me, the last 10 minutes definitely came out of left field. But I am not mad at the conclusions this story arrives at, even if they broke my heart a bit.
If I had one tiny bit of criticism: The TikTok product placement got a bit too much for me. I get it, sometimes you gotta do these things to fund your film. Still, that was like the only thing that kind of irritated me because it was just so obviously paid for. But as I said, I understand that sometimes as a filmmaker you don’t have much of a choice in this.
The teacher and her meddling in the leads’ relationship were also just a tad too much for me to feel entirely natural. That being said, I’m a white girl that went to a European school, I have no idea how involved Chinese teachers really are and if they would ever behave similarly, so maybe this comes down to cultural differences.

I sincerely love this film. It touched my heart in a way I didn’t see coming. But I am also scared that someone might watch this based on my recommendation only to realize, that it wasn’t nearly as good as I made it out to be. I know it isn’t, okay. In no way is Upcoming Summer groundbreaking or a perfect piece of media. But weirdly enough, this still was the YA movie of the year to me. For two hours I shed my overly-critical persona and just allowed myself to be touched by what I saw. I felt the pain of our protagonist as she, for the first time, discovers that not all love-stories have a happy ending, but that in no way diminishes their significance, that love is more than just romance, that our parents are also just humans. That growing up is the scariest challenge we face in life. Maybe art is less about what the creator puts into it, and more about what the audience gets out of it. I guess some stories just stay with us, no matter how objectively good or bad they are.
Upcoming Summer certainly will.

Read More

Beautiful and Realistic.

I directly began the director's cut without watching the drama and here are a few if my jumbled thoughts. This movie is better to be "felt" than read as words don't serve justice to the experience of witnessing Akira and Yuki's journey.

☆ With a very less crowded cast, Life Sejou No Bokora brings out the beautiful chemistry between Yuki and Akira. We spent 80% of the story with them. Each step of their journey is catalogued smoothly. The time skips were spot on. Not to mention, the cast including the few supporting characters delivered excellent performances.

☆ It brought out issues about parents' expectations about their children and the society's view on what's considered normal. I'm one of the few who dares to go against the tide and seeing such a portrayal was satisfying. I will strive to be like Akira's older sister.

☆ I particularly loved how the lead actors brought their characters to life. Pretty sure I won't be forgetting Yuki's radiant smile anymore. I liked the internal conflicts of Akira. (There were several scenes involving the sun and light that were beautifully shot with the two of them.)

☆ Despite all that, there was a moment that I almost came to dislike a character. The pacing after around an hour seemed really quick. The low rewatch score is cause I almost never rewatch movies.

All in all, Japan has an uncanny talent in making very simple productions appear fulfilling. And this is one of the best simple and heartwarming stories I've watched. My review sucks, but I'd suggest that you dive directly into the movie without hesitation!

Read More

Masterpiece by Oshima Nagisa

The thirst is real. Is this movie pornographic or art? I feel like it’s a touch of sex and art. Truly an amazing piece of art by Oshima Nagisa. The concept of senses in this movie, that is sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch, everything was represented so well. Excellent acting by Eiko Matsuda and Tatsuya Fuji, these two capture the burning passion and struggles. However, I feel the character could have had more depth. A lot of people are gonna say it’s boring and disgusting but trust me, It’s so real. I loved it so much. There is so much realism. Lust turning into violation, imperialism, rapes, and the women during the imperial period. The ending was just a wow.

Read More

It’s a whirlwind of emotions.

It’s been a real long time since I’ve watched a movie so heartbreaking, so bittersweet, and funny. It really is whirlwind emotions that one hopes to experience and prays to avoid. It has its absurd moments, comical moments, happy moments, sad moments, and everything in between. This movie ebbs and flows like life. Even a week after watching this movie, a song comes on that jogs up the last scene, and I fall back into the story, the characters, and I’m lost to those feelings again.

I know Hwang Jung Min is an incredible actor, but his acting in this movie floored me and showed the depth of his talent. I highly recommend this movie to anyone.

Also, this is the first I’ve written on here, so that is how much I love this movie.

Read More

A little fantasy time-travel story

So this is how it went… it's a little movie of just 28 minutes. Nothing special or amazing here. But this isn't bad either…… Wasn't expecting much as it's so short and then it's not appreciated so much by others too… started watching it with no expectations and it just went medium like that… I loved the twist in middle. Was not expecting something like that would happen at all. I bet no one else could guess that too lol… I had a slight confusion in the beginning with a dialogue and I thought that's just a small error. But who expected it's actually well planned…

This is good in terms of the time-travel theme cause so far at least I haven't seen a concept like that. Ending could have been better maybe (or what I was wishing for lol). Some people may not get this kind of ending tbh. So, it ended little confusingly… a thing that I can't help but notice was that girl's hand in the ending scene. Her hand was so red. Was it because she was nervous in acting or they made it look like that intentionally…

This story could be expanded I guess. This could form the base story for a long 2 hour movie. Maybe there's something like that already. No idea about that…

To conclude ~ Not bad. Give it a try if you're bored or in a mood for a small high school short film… Also, it's available in YouTube already with English Subtitles…

Read More

A good crime thriller which could have been better

Overview : I was wanting to watch this movie for quite sometime. I came across a few clips of the movie and when I saw Lee Sang Yeob in a grey shade, I was really looking forward to watch it. The movie started off well. But it was too dragging. It had great potential and could have been far more better. The cast, acting, music were all on point. But somewhere, I didn’t get the connect. The movie involved a lot of elements like kidnapping, power abuse, violence, injustice etc. It’s a one time watch. If you are into crime thrillers, go for it.

Plus points:

Casting is a big plus for this movie. The politics and the suspense elements were really good. Lee Sang Yeob did an amazing job and he portrayed his role really well. Ma Dong Seok - Woooow he killed it and I loved watching him in this movie. Music was good and it was exactly on point for a crime thriller. A fantastic story with a good screenplay and concept.

Minus points:

It was too dragging and I lost the connect at a point of time. With such a great cast, it had a good potential
which I think was not properly utilised. There were no grand moments, it was like a usual crime thriller. It started off like wooow and ended like booom!

Conclusion:

The movie was neither too bad nor too good. It is watchable. If you are into crime thrillers, go for it!

Read More

I LOVED THIS MOVIE!

Ok so the smut factor was what really drew me in at first. You know when it's your time of the month and you just want to watch something yummy. Welp, I got what I asked for. It was indeed the most bold and erotic BL movie I've watched to date. I loved the explicit scenes. They were exactly what I wanted. Totally unapologetic and so effin raw. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time I was watching the movie. Please watch this alone and with earphones on people! My eyes were literally glued to my phone screen. But what I was totally NOT EXPECTING was the depth of this movie. I was prepared to write this off as one for my spank bank so boy was I surprised to have my mind blown towards the end of the movie after the dark BDSM period. When the tied up guy (can't even remember his dang name, I will hence refer to him as TUG) went after Yoda (his name I remember coz Star Wars LOL) at the beach when Yoda was about to end his life and then TUG grabbed him from behind and said "Give me your life" maaaaaaaaaan that hit me. The parallelism when Yoda said those exact words to him at the beginning when it was TUG who wanted to end his life -- maaaaaan!!! Chills!!! They literally saved each other!!!
And then another smut action ensues this time more softcore. And at the end when both of them had been spent from all the sexing, and TUG asked Yoda "You're still alive?" -- just like what Yoda kept asking TUG when he was all tied up and sexed up in the basement. And then Yoda answers "I'm still alive". WHOOAAAA!!! It was Yoda telling TUG he wants to live again. And thus they have succeeded to give each other their will to live again. OMG!!! Now tell me this wasn't a masterpiece of an effin movie!!! I place this on top of my list. Although if anyone asks, I will deny. HAHAHAHAH just because people will think it's because of the smut. But really it was the smut AND THE PLOT people!!!! Is anybody with me???

Read More

I kissed a girl just to try it.

This crisp, cleverly written coming-of-age movie with a bit of a twist, explores the usual themes of first love, rejection, self-discovery, and accepting your family for who they really are. It is carried by persuasive and heartfelt performances by both Wu Lei and Zhang Zifeng whose restrained, nuanced portrayals convey the confusion of awakening youth and the utter depth of despair of first love and rejection. In this genre, young actors tend to lose my empathy by over-dramatizing and overacting in such angsty moments but these two truly moved me by not doing so. I also appreciate the well-timed light humor that diffuses tense moments and captures the ultimate resilience and optimism of youth.

Zheng Yuxing and Chen Chen couldn't be more different - he is a bit of a rebel, the cool kid with a bit of internet following while she is a good student with bright prospects who unexpectedly flunks out. Thrown together by an outrageous lie, a mutual understanding that becomes a touching, unexpected relationship blossom between them. They embark on a most excellent adventure together as Chen Chen convinces Yuxing he must confront Ming, who is breaking his heart. Instead, they end up facing their feelings for each other and what it means for each of them culminates in an "I kissed a girl just to try it" kiss that says all that needs to be said. The chemistry between both leads is incredible and is exactly as it should be. I can't praise enough how these two young actors effortlessly show us rather than tell us the complex multitude of emotions they are experiencing.

Unfortunately for Yuxing and Chen Chen, there are too heavy consequences for their actions. Once again we see that young people are so much better people and I am left hoping these two stay that way on their long journey ahead. The ending is realistic with the right touch of wistfulness and hope.

So now is the time to confess that I only watched this because I wanted to see my favorite Wu Lei of unforgettable Fei Liu fame's first screen kiss. Needless to say, I got much more than I bargained for. While this movie has received backlash for not being upfront about what it is about, I think that criticism reflects a lack of understanding that that is the whole point. Who is Ming? That is the most irrelevant detail because it changes nothing. Yuxing's emotions, Chen Chen's emotions, our emotions, and our experiences are the same regardless of certain aspects of our identity.

The premise of this movie isn't the most original but the way it communicates its simple message is. And the acting deserves a standing ovation. This is an 8.5 for me with a strong recommendation to watch.

Read More

A very disturbing movie! Do not watch if you get triggered!

This movie had beautiful music and good acting, but that's about where the good stuff ends. This movie seems like it was written for people who think they're allies just because they watch movies about gay people being miserable. Homophobia can be depicted well in film, especially when depicted with nuance, but "Run" almost felt like a warning for gay people, especially in how it depicts homophobic violence. The main character loses everything, and the whole movie ends in anguish and tears. It is not a movie I would suggest to anyone, especially someone who has dealt with fears of what their parents would do when they come out of the closet.

Read More

I watched Hibiki because I missed watching Kitagawa Keiko and saw that the cast are very interesting.

All in all, it’s a very good and enjoyable movie with interesting storyline without a boring minute. The only thing that annoyed me was only the lack of explanation or background about Hibiki’s character. She’s not a normal character at all, but we don’t get any explanation at all. Are we supposed to just accept that she’s a kind of tortured artist with a skewed personality or something? For one, I really was curious about her family. But that aside, you won’t regret watching this movie. The pacing and the plot was good

Now for the actors, this movie was really full of eye candies. Everyone here was beautiful and easy on the eye. The acting was superb. I love the young actors who played Hibiki and Rika, and also it was a nice surprise to see Itagaki Mizuki. I love seeing Kitagawa Keiko in a role where her pretty face isn’t mentioned at all. I don’t think Oguri Shun’s character blend perfectly here, but it’s like a nice little touch.

I didn’t really notice the music, they were more like background music, but they were good enough to build atmosphere needed.

Once again, it’ll be perfect if only they give us backstory of Hibiki’s, and I’m sure it would be an interesting one. But maybe it’s just me :)

Read More