This review may contain spoilers
Just draw!
I'm so happy to once again be able to see a Mei Nagano work. Putting her past behind her for now, I really must recommend this movie.
The overall pacing of the movie is a little odd only because I believe they followed the manga style of exposition. Since this is based on a life story turned into a manga turned into live action, it definately has this feeling about it. When the story begins it starts out as a standard comedy movie but by the Midway point I believe it delivers a good message of self worth and trust. It just never hits that really high note to be a masterpiece.
Hayashi is performed brilliantly by Nagano. She's always so good at being an ball of anxiety with the ability to turn on the emotions at the drop of a dime. There's so many points in this story where Mei has to just abruptly cry. It's incredible. I teared up like 3 to 4 times throughout this movie. I could tell with the subject matter the was going to be a something in this story that hit hard, but I was not expecting that many moments. I always look forward to her roles where she plays the airhead that gets sense beaten in to her.
Oizumi plays that hard headed teacher well but there were times when the tone of his actions didn't seem like he was 100% all in. I think it felt like Oizumi's natural calmness was fighting hard to be that gruff teacher lol. So sometimes the emotional scenes didn't hit as hard because you didn't believe the interaction. But overall I'm happy with his performance. Just wished that during the last arc of the movie he acted more like he was actually dying.
Her parents were a little too animated for my liking. They kinda took me out of the scenes they were in. The other two supporting characters, Kitano and Ima, I felt were very under used. Ima like he went thru ass arc in the background. I'm thinking they were cut for time. But Ima has one really great scene near the end that I thought was beautiful.
The idea of growing up and making life decisions is abundant in this movie. It explores the topics of living for yourself and not being bound by others expectations while forging your own path. The message resonated with me astoundingly well. When Hayashi is fraught with decisions she tends to just let things escalate until it's too late, later regretting her decision. It makes her such a human character. We can all relate to her. I can even see that in so much that she might have been even suffering from mild depression or decision freeze. Not being able to move forward because she was just going with the flow and not allowing herself to think for herself. There were too many choices and no conviction. I also like how the movie portrayed how overly praising someone can actually hurt their self esteem later in life.
The adult in me is agreeing with her by the end but the child in me understand why she seemed like an irresponsible adult. It wasn't so much that Hayashi was irresponsible, it was the fact that she lost that spark only the teacher could bring out of her. That spark defines what drives us, our raison d'etre. When we make life choices, things always get in the way. Practicality and effort are driving forces in Hayashi's decisions and she tries and loses focus so many times. It's only by the end that she understands the real reason we keep going is not because we are forced to, it's because we have to. I think if they let a bit of those moments breathe more it could of been an A+ movie.
The cinematography of the movie is very vibrant and easy on the eyes. There's a few really nice scenic shots and some great use of color and lighting, which is expected in a movie about art. It was visually pleasing to watch with no real faults.
Music wise I don't remember anything really but the overall music suited the mood. There was some funny quirky songs, some sad piano and a mix of some variety for the everyday scenes. The theme song is cute.
A fairly enjoyable movie that probably could be watched a few times.
The overall pacing of the movie is a little odd only because I believe they followed the manga style of exposition. Since this is based on a life story turned into a manga turned into live action, it definately has this feeling about it. When the story begins it starts out as a standard comedy movie but by the Midway point I believe it delivers a good message of self worth and trust. It just never hits that really high note to be a masterpiece.
Hayashi is performed brilliantly by Nagano. She's always so good at being an ball of anxiety with the ability to turn on the emotions at the drop of a dime. There's so many points in this story where Mei has to just abruptly cry. It's incredible. I teared up like 3 to 4 times throughout this movie. I could tell with the subject matter the was going to be a something in this story that hit hard, but I was not expecting that many moments. I always look forward to her roles where she plays the airhead that gets sense beaten in to her.
Oizumi plays that hard headed teacher well but there were times when the tone of his actions didn't seem like he was 100% all in. I think it felt like Oizumi's natural calmness was fighting hard to be that gruff teacher lol. So sometimes the emotional scenes didn't hit as hard because you didn't believe the interaction. But overall I'm happy with his performance. Just wished that during the last arc of the movie he acted more like he was actually dying.
Her parents were a little too animated for my liking. They kinda took me out of the scenes they were in. The other two supporting characters, Kitano and Ima, I felt were very under used. Ima like he went thru ass arc in the background. I'm thinking they were cut for time. But Ima has one really great scene near the end that I thought was beautiful.
The idea of growing up and making life decisions is abundant in this movie. It explores the topics of living for yourself and not being bound by others expectations while forging your own path. The message resonated with me astoundingly well. When Hayashi is fraught with decisions she tends to just let things escalate until it's too late, later regretting her decision. It makes her such a human character. We can all relate to her. I can even see that in so much that she might have been even suffering from mild depression or decision freeze. Not being able to move forward because she was just going with the flow and not allowing herself to think for herself. There were too many choices and no conviction. I also like how the movie portrayed how overly praising someone can actually hurt their self esteem later in life.
The adult in me is agreeing with her by the end but the child in me understand why she seemed like an irresponsible adult. It wasn't so much that Hayashi was irresponsible, it was the fact that she lost that spark only the teacher could bring out of her. That spark defines what drives us, our raison d'etre. When we make life choices, things always get in the way. Practicality and effort are driving forces in Hayashi's decisions and she tries and loses focus so many times. It's only by the end that she understands the real reason we keep going is not because we are forced to, it's because we have to. I think if they let a bit of those moments breathe more it could of been an A+ movie.
The cinematography of the movie is very vibrant and easy on the eyes. There's a few really nice scenic shots and some great use of color and lighting, which is expected in a movie about art. It was visually pleasing to watch with no real faults.
Music wise I don't remember anything really but the overall music suited the mood. There was some funny quirky songs, some sad piano and a mix of some variety for the everyday scenes. The theme song is cute.
A fairly enjoyable movie that probably could be watched a few times.
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