TEIICHI: Battle of Supreme High

Don't be turned off by the description, it doesn't do this movie justice. Basically, this is more than 2 hours of extremely hot men standing half nude, and slapping each other's butts, and extremely hot men having bromances that are not only hot but beautiful, and extremely hot men going around being extra and being crazy and also delivering a beautiful, captivating story with a heart. The dialog it's etched in my mind it was so beautiful, especially toward the end. It's funny, with some dark humor, and some touching, emotional moments and the writing is so good! And Suda being extra af is just my happy place lol

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The Emperor's Country

This film is *terribly* well done.

I hated the first hour, I freely admit it, because it was definitely on the far side of "too much". I am always the first one to point out that Japanese manga adaptations have their own style and that's how it is; and if you know what I mean by that, imagine it ten-fold that and you have a good approximation for how this film is done. I really struggled with the shouting and the overdone reactions and the wigs and ... everything, really. But for some strange reason, I also could *not* put it down.
It was all worth it for the ending -- I won't say anything to not spoil it, but let it be known that I had to get up, paced there for several minutes and then shouted "That's so clever!", and I meant both Teiichi's actions *and* the writing.

This film is set in an oligarchic and patriarchial society, both in the "adult" and in the "school" part of it -- it reminded me of the Kaiserreich society of around 1900 (go and read "Der Untertan" and "Unterm Rad", if you haven't yet!), others might think of England's Edwardian public schools, Japanese viewers will probably think of their own Imperial era. That oppressive, hierarchical society, governed by ties of obligation and old history which span generations, with its homosocial enviroment and the (homophobic) (or do I mean homoerotic?) bromances, the sizzling rivalries and the masochistic self-degradation towards the powerful -- and then, for a minuscule moment, a glimpse of a dream, of change, of humanity -- or maybe not?
All of this is perfectly distilled into the set designs and the costumes, into the use of light and color, into the pace of the ceremonies with the ritualistic stand-bow-sit and the hard-and-short applause, into the perfect timing of every single actor, and even into the kumi-daiko with half-naked men.

With this in mind, it makes a lot of sense that the female characters barely have screentime, that the younger sister (who is maybe about 13?) carries a teddy bear whereever she goes, that in his moment of victory, Teiichi leaves his girfriend(?) and runs towards his number one lackey to embrace him. Actually, that makes it even more clever that the girlfriend(?) is the only voice for egalitarianism in this film.

It would take a while to talk about all the different layers of meaning that hide behind the manga-esque facade, so I'll just point out that there are many, and leave it at that -- I think every viewer will find their own preferred reading.

And in the end, even on the day after finishing this film, I sit here and ask myself "Who is the real Teiichi?" and "What the heck is Dan hiding?"
Very much worth it.

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