Karinanose

An outlet to the future

Solanin is based on a popular manga with the same name. It refers to the poison which can affect certain types of vegetables in the nightshade family. It is a natural defense to protect the plant. This is important to the story, trust me.

Solanin is a deeply interesting look at honoring someone by living out their wish. Much of Japan's cinema talks about death and it's consequences on others. The brilliance of this movie is how they tackle loss in a unique way. Many people who come out of school don't know what to do with their adult lives. Sometimes dreams can die and then world comes crushing down on you. The movie's first half covers much of this mentality with a sense of whimsical love. We can continue living so long as we are blissfully unaware of anyone but ourselves. This dramatically changes after the loss of one of the main characters. A strong change of melancholy takes over the film in the middle of the movie. When we don't have a proper goodbye to someone. can we really move on? That is the central question the movie answers.

The thing I mentioned earlier about poison is a metaphor for the type of pain someone's unexpected death can cause on someone. We see the main character Meiko slowly go into a downward spiral of depression after the loss of her loved one. She finds solace in his music that he left behind and continues his dream in order to understand him better. The film walks with the idea that societal pressures can have lasting effects on someone's self worth and even though we may seem fine it's not always the case. There's scenes in the movie which touch on self worth and the transactional nature of adulthood. We sometimes must do things that we do not agree with but sometimes it's better to go with the flow of he river then against it. Younger to millennial generations will probably understand this movie much better then older generation.

The acting is very well done for the most part, the strongest being Meiko and Jirou. These two show the most growth I feel in the entire movie's arcs. Naruo I felt was a little weaker in characterization but it evened out with the chemistry he had with the rest of the cast. Jirou's actor had an amazing scene that made me crack the tears. Meiko's Aoi Miyazaki has a really emotional depth especially when it comes to her facial expressions and body language. The final musical scene is a real catharsis. I felt like this was one of her better performances as it went through a huge gamut of emotions.

Lighting plays a small roll in the movie as the bright and warm cheerful days are alongside the dark and muddy days of loss. You can see a stark difference in the movie's feeling in both halves, which is something I enjoyed. The movie is very easy on the eyes and has a really nice lived in feeling. I really enjoyed this little bubble.

I think the ending will resonate well with anyone who is facing their whole lives ahead of them and would recommend this movie to anyone looking for a little pick me up.

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Who determines who is family?

In a world of harsh pains and challenges, most people can rely on family to get the through tough times. But does family only have to be blood deep? A film about the interlinks that bind people together.

While at the heart of this film is the reminder that family are the ones who are there for you now in the present, I felt this story needed a little more characterization. The film's three main protagonist do their parts well from what they we given in the script. Kasumi always brings the best characters who are internally struggling despite their cheerful exterior. Kunimura San I found to be kinda lacking in this movie. I felt like his character needed overall more depth and time to really make you care about the relationship his character was pushed into. The young Ryusei did very well, particularly in the heart wrenching essay segment.

The scenary shots in this movie are absolutely brilliant. There's a little dodgy CGI thrown in a brief scene but it didn't detract from the movie. The trains which are a focal point of the movie are lovingly shown and many of the themes of the movie revolve around the idea of trains. Timing, maintenance, speed, braking.. All of these can be metaphors for the delicate relationship dynamics in families. It teaches us nothing must be too overdrawn, it must all work together for a smooth arrival.

I'm not sure I would highly recommend this movie but it wasn't a non pleasant ride. Surprisingly despite its heavy moments it wasn't as tear inducing as I was expecting and that I think had to be the byproduct again of the characters having time to show us why we should cry along them. Overall a good slice of life type story for a nice afternoon to night.

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Who will you leave behind?

When you die, do you know who will be there to mourn for you? What will happen to your body? Will anyone care? These are the important questions this movie attempts to answer.

The strength of this movie is the beautiful way it shows the preservation of life even when the soul is long gone. The careful motions of the nokanshi or coffinman have a almost sensual depth. There were moments where just these simple hand gestures brought me to tears. There's a real humanity to people who give their lives to make the final moments of others feel heard. The message of you existed and you mattered is effortlessly presented with all the scenes of these rituals.

I loved how the families presented all showed different stages of grief. The very real situations that can happen during funerals really allowed the film to explore these sentiments. Families have complicated histories and many of these inadvertently come out during times of great pain. The families dealing with sudden deaths and unfamiliarity all brought Daigo greater understanding and support to recontextualize his own emotions.

The harmonious cello piece that plays through the movie is some of Joe Hisaishi's best work. The music ebbs and flows with the scenes and bring emotional warmth to many scenes.

The acting is solid for the most part. Daigo does so much acting through just his eyes and hands on this movie. Mika his wife was well acted, although I found the drama to suddenly swerve with their relationship. I think this is just from more a cultural standpoint as the job of Coffinman is highly stigmatized in Japan. The supporting actors all got their little moments. I wish there was a little more development for the Coworkers in the film.

Most of the editing and directing were really precise and time seemed to move so slowly but then I realized that 60 mins had passed already. I think that's one of the greatest pleasures of the film. You get enraptured into this delicate work and before you know it, time has disappeared. I guess you could say that is also what plays on the central theme of the movie. Time may feel like it's standing still, but it forever moves onward.

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Relationships are a a continous battle and that's ok.

I've been on a minor binge of dramas lately. I was smitten by Kasumi in Flying Colors so I went to find her other works.
This movie was highly recommended, so I gave it a shot.

I enjoy movies with nuanced character moments, it can help lift even the weakest stories. Fortunately for this movie, we had so much to digest. In each of the beginning half of the movie's scenes have a beautiful tenderness. The two MC interact with so much chemistry and it's really hard not to cheer for these two. We made a Beautiful Bouquet has probably some of my favorite couples interactions I've seen in any movie. There's subtle little things like how they look at each other during every possible moment and how as the movie goes on we see that slowly move on with time. The vibes are very wholesome and I appreciated all the small moments. The MCs also aren't scared to be seen in public together haha.

The director has a keen eye for working with lighting to incite feelings without having to say a word. Through gentle warm lighting we are enveloped in the same love that these two feel, only for it to become inevitably darker as they work through their struggles. One thing about Japanese cinema I've noticed is directors from Japan have a strong sense of beauty in the mundane. We are drawn into the feelings of these two in all their little interactions and as a result the ending is considerably impactful. Whether it be just standing together in a moment, or reading quietly in the same room, the director weaves you into their narrative. Many movies tend to build relationships with big sweeping romantic scenes but leave out small moments like these, which tend to weaken character development and our attachments to care.

There was a specific scene on the train involving a text message response and I was impressed on how utterly realistic the speed of the text was for people in their predicament. It was incredibly nuanced and said a lot about their relationship status whether it was intentionally shot like that or not. It's in these smaller moments that you learn to appreciate dramas.

I do not claim to be a J-drama expert, but I do enjoy how this movie was not afraid to go a different direction then most movies in this genre. The depiction of relationships in their sweetest, at their worst and at their most harrowing..it was a realistic depiction of the value of continued communication. There needs to be conversations like this in modern romance movies.I haven't consumed as much Jdramas, so I can only speak to my experiences watching what I have so far.

As for the musical composition in this movie, It was serviceable. I think it's one of the only weaknesses in this movie. Nothing stood out too much. But what we did hear in the movie was good for the overall feeling. As with most movies acoustic guitars set up a lot of groundwork for the tender moments in the movie. Pianos and synths follow for major moments and the passage of time sequences. It's your general drama music but it's definitely on the cuter side for most of the movie.

One thing I would like to point out personally is just the framing of the scenes in this movie. As the movie progresses the drifting of the camera and blocking are excellent. As the movie becomes more sad, the shots become more constricted and the camera becomes more static opposed to the moving camera in the early sequences. Placement of the actors play a part in this story as well. The two MCs move in and out of each other to relay their relationship at any given moment.


Finally the messaging in this movie is admirable. Many things in this movie are relatable to people who have been in any sort of relationship be it romantic or not. I loved that they didn't shy away from some of the tougher conversations. I would of liked them to delve deeper, but I know it's just not really a thing in Japanese society to do so. The depiction of strength, love and conviction in the movie really moved me.

A beautiful bouquet is made up of many beautiful but fragile flowers. Those flowers can last long if you nurture them, but in the end they will wilt no matter how much care you put into them. Relationships are the same, but that doesn't mean the effort you put into them was worthless.

The ending might leave some people very sad, but fear not! But sometimes you need to hear both sides of a story for something to be fully appreciated.

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chasing the dream

So let's get this out of the way, Yes the age gap is considered against society. Yes it's a power imbalance and yes it's messed up.
But does the story make up for it?
Well...

The main problem with this show is the side romance is miles above the main story. Arimura does a fantastic job portraying the emotions that should be present... But the script and character moments do nothing to help out the situation. Honestly the chemistry between Suenaga and Kuroiwa was right from the beginning was nonsensical. Sudden young love happens in real life but this one felt like there was no real build up between both of them. It was just Akira mainly doing all the chasing with Suenaga only relenting after she realized she liked him too. But all we really had with those sorts of interactions were long stares and the occasional pull aways. It didn't feel like they were amounting to much of anything. I was actually kinda annoyed about how it played out.

When they got together, it felt really hollow. Like Suenaga really had no reason to like him other then him saying he liked her and him staring at her all the time. I just didn't feel the mutual romance. So then Suenaga comes off really poorly cause then it's like she only likes him because he showed interest. You can sort of tell there's a spark missing inside Hijiri but it's never expanded upon before anything happens.

It did not help that I didn't think Akira wasn't very well acted. I get he's supposed to be an awkward 15 year old. But every scene he was in, I couldn't believe him at all. It all felt so stinted and awkward. During scenes where he was chasing her and showing emotions, even then it felt like he was only at 20% of what he could probably do. Sometimes it was comically slow. Kawai her fiance as well was just not present. All I got from him was he was just trying to do the right thing but wouldn't listen. But again no chemistry to begin with. I guess that's the point but it certainly did not do him any favors. I think in all there was only one scene where I felt they were a couple and it was a character moment when they were walking down a street taking about how plain he is. Now the real star of this show however is Haraguchi and Kuroiwa San.

Haraguchi had a deeply nuanced performance. I thought everything about her was easily the better story. She was a strong archetype with many faults but owned up to them. Her love for Kawai was earnest and respectable. She had real good reasons for her love and for her inner feelings all fleshed out through the interactions she faced and it felt like a natural progression. She fell for his whole hearted reliability and unjudgemental attitude towards her. You feel super bad for her when she doesn't get reciprocated but you don't get that for the other characters. Her interactions with every meeting felt like they were important discussions where she was trying to get people to pursue things the right way. She just felt like a person who wanted the best for everyone despite her demeanor.

Kuroiwa San was also a stand out performance . Her feelings and emotions came out as genuine distress and it really carried her interactions. It felt as if she was the real Mom and was looking out for her son's best interest. She also had a great trauma backstory to tie together the characters faults and triumphs. The twist also made it better. You could tell her character arc was of redemption to right the wrongs of the past in her son. Then you get the generational trauma thing and it all fits together.

I also felt really bad for Iwasaki. She got pushed around so much. Yes, what she did was vindictive and also a like selfish but give her a break she's a young teen who had a crush on a boy who didn't reciprocate. There was no good ground for her character to move forward next to realizing she's lost to Suenaga. But the end thankfully she seemed to have moved forward.

The camerawork is really sorta simple. There's some alright compositions but they went crazy with the fisheye allegory. I'm assuming it was meant to show the emotional distance between characters but it was used so much it just became jarring. I'm wondering if the manga used these shots frequently and it was to imitate it? The soft ambient night lighting scenes were good. I liked those ones but daylight scenes needed work. I'm not sure if it was the restoration on Netflix's release but it started to look really green in scenes as if they applied a filter to counter act reddish or yellow tones?

The music was just ok. Uru's end theme is fantastic, but most of Uru's music is. The piano version that is sprinkled throughout was also easy to listen too and does the typical job of playing when something important happens lol. But either then that it wasn't really anything special to talk about.

The story takes a really big swerve in the middle. It was welcome change of pace. I would of liked that to have been the main story as the forbidden romance became less a thing and the aftermath became was much more interesting then the original plot. The Tachibana family story in particular
seemed to have taken over the majority of the second half. I was invested in that one. The blackmailing against Suenaga was an interesting topic to pull with the mother's backstory.

The second half of the series had a much better plot play out and fleshed out the motivations better.. however I still thought to myself that Hijiri's motivations and actions had no real logistical reasonings. Like her character arc was good, but it was very difficult to think of what actions that led her there. For being the main character I felt like we are made to feel bad for her. But there's no backstory to really put her there. She just sorta exists to be a plot device. By the end too they were just throwing in random swerves like the ending of episode 11 was so late in the show. That's where I feel this series lost me. I enjoyed the ending but it's hard for me to recommend this.

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Probably better as a movie to put on when your bored

First off the general atmosphere of this movie is good. It's moody and dark without being angsty. It has a color palette that is very dark and mute but it works well for the atmosphere for the film. It's surprisingly low key in terms of locations. I thought we'd see more places but it's extremely narrow in locations.I wonder if that had to do with budgetary or filming restrictions.

I loved the acting by Fumika. She was doing so well with the personality switches while doing body movements still in character of Kudo. It's probably one of the best parts of the film.I kinda wish they kidnapped Maho or something to bring her into the film more. Otherwise her character was sorta wasted. Kudo was really just alright for what we saw of him. I didn't really feel attached or remorseful for his character. Kagehara was a likeable character I thought. He had a really quick character arc though.

The plot is really thin. Like it doesn't really tell you much about anyone. I think if this movie had that extra 15 mins to explain their motivations it would of been a much better movie. It's really more of a premise and we just want to shoot cool fight scenes.

Now what we really want to hear about is the fighting right? Well the fight scenes are pretty cool. Nothing mind blowing but perfectly ok with how they were choreographed. The action shots were well focused and not some blurry mess.The strikes are fierce and precise. The particular fight scene with the expert hitman was pretty slick. It reminded me of fights in some Donnie Yen movies.

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