Bento Harassment (2019)

" Bento Harassment " was actually a very sentimental movie.

The start was more on the comedy side, with a fun spin on the "cartoon" bentos. The idea was entertaining, with the daughter - mother relationship being communicated via the lunch boxes. The addition of the cute side story was nice too.

The second part of the movie was more on the sad side, with the relationship going through the rocks and the twist towards the end. The performances were pretty good in that part too. Also, it was interesting that they concluded the stories in the end as well, even the side ones.

So, overall, eight out of ten.

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It's the small things that will fill your heart

It's the sum of all parts that makes this movie enjoyable. Just like a Bento, you should judge it on how each small parts make the entire meal enjoyable.

This movie began, to be honest I didn't feel like it was going to be very good. Thankfully the movie shifts gears about 40 mins in and after that point it becomes a really watchable movie. After we are introduced to Kaori and Futaba, you kind of feel like the acting isn't really strong. It feels a little too slapstick or really daytime drama amateurish. Futaba was a hard sell for me to begin with. But as the movie progressed she began showing layers in her character. Kaori also was the same. I didn't quite know what Kaori's feelings were. They made sense on paper but I didn't get that till after that gear change.

The movie felt like it didn't know what genre it was trying to be at first. There was also internal monologuing that threw off the movie's tempo. Because the movie shifted points of views in the first half between the two leads but it wasn't consistent with presentation. It made sense why they did it that way story wise but it made the flow awkward in my opinion.

One beautiful aspect about this movie is it's color palette. It's a very bright cheerful movie with tons of character. Everything from clothing choices to the house with a face, it was very vibrant. The Bento's being the focus helped bring out a lot of fun. The little animations that came with the Bento's and the explanations were very cute. Seeing Futaba's emotions over time really set you up for those final Bento reveals.

I really loved how they ended the movie on a letter calling back to their childhood. Their relationship was fraught with miscommunication and distance but it wasn't lost. Communication is a strong topic in Japanese movies I find because their society is so bad at trying to express themselves to each other through words. That's what's really endearing about this movie. There's a beauty in understanding each other through only food.

Wakaba was also a secret Ace in this movie. She provided so much background support to her family. My heart went out to her when she told Kaori she didn't know how to handle Futaba's crying. I liked how she was so mature and understanding.

I don't know what the point of the single father storyline was. I'm going to guess it was supposed to be emotional support but it was executed poorly. It looks like they tried to provide some sort of mirror to Kaori so she could see where she went wrong? Like I don't know, it was very unclear.

I also feel like it fell off a steep cliffs after a certain point in the movie. There is a special after credit scene finishing up the story but it was too late. Completely forgot about him by the end.

The soundtrack was fun and engaging. When those violins needed to come in to hit that vibe, they did so. The ending theme was bright and cheerful.

General cinematography was fine. But there were some baffling scene cuts. Like at one point it randomly cut to a loom. Sometimes people talking would trail off into oddly placed scenes. There were some nice scenic shots being part of a Island setting.

Overall good movie though!Lots of micro tears for me. This one will definately hit harder depending on how you view your relationship with your parents.

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