Maggi64

Pardon the late reply but I have not been on mdl the past 2 months. As for your question, you can find this movie on Internet chive Archive and it has English subs

I'm always baffled by this sort of response to a drama. I mean, if you don't watch anything where a character cheats on a partner, then does it mean you also rule out stories with unethical people such as bank robbers, con artists, cyber criminals, prostitutes, mafia members, etc? Because that would mean ruling out 90% of the greatest novels, plays, movies and dramas ever made.

"The Godfather" is regarded as the greatest movie ever made by most critics around the world. And nobody in that movie behaves ethically. Or how about the Japanese film "Rashomon"? That's also among the greatest movies ever made, and the plot centers on a rape.

I reported your comment, which has no relevance to the show. This is a forum for sharing opinions about shows, not politics against Israel or for Palestine.

As soon as the opening credits played, I gasped in happy surprise and said aloud, "Are they really playing 'Let’s Live For Today'?"

I was already impressed that the director had dug up a classic song from the 1960's band Grass Roots, but the dance sequence to that song in the Pachinko parlor made it even better.

I'm happy to say that the entire series lived up to the promise of this opening sequence. The show was original, smart, entertaining, historically accurate, and full of interesting characters with depth whom we grew to care about.

Some complained that it was "slow." But they must be young viewers raised on insta-bits of entertainment, rather than on stories that develop with careful plotting and characterization. Quality storytelling takes time. And "Pachinko" is definitely quality storytelling.

It covers 3 generations who have lived in Korea, then the Korean community in Japan, then in America. So different parts of the show are set in those 3 locations: Korea, Japan and America.

Thank you! I got a lot of grief from others for this review, but I stand by what I said. I've noticed that all the people who claim to love it had really just studied it in their college film classes and just want to use the terminology they'd also learned in those classes to sound smart.

At any rate, I am so glad you agreed.

Thx, I'll put it on my PTW List to give it a try. You know, I think Thai BL's would instantly improve if they were simply shortened. But they are always 12-15 eps at 1 hour a pop. Thus, they end up with a lot of filler. At any rate, I've been looking for something new, so thank you for the recommendation.

Anytime somebody agrees with you it's theorized that it must *really* be you talking to yourself. So far they've accused you of opening accounts under 4 different people's names:

Maggi64 (ie, me)
Jolly Golly
Honglou Meng
TruthDares

Never mind that JollyGolly, Honglou Meng and I have distinctly different writing styles and views than you, but we've all been highly active here for a couple of years. Indeed, all 4 of us have often been on the same thread simultaneously. Consider how hard it would be to move between 4 different accounts simultaneously, while keeping track of all 4 different writing styles, tones and opinions. Hell, I'd actually be impressed by anyone clever enough to do that.

No, I haven't seen it, but I just checked out the MDL description, which said it was based on Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew. That sounds interesting. Thx!

Also, I am not surprised that a steamy masturbation scene would show up in a Thai BL. Thai BL's are more open about gay sex in general. It's just that I don't watch many Thai BL's because GMMTV manufactures too many a year at the expense of quality. Hence, my statement was more about Japanese, Taiwanese, and Korean BLs.

Lastly, I saw that The Heart Killers has a 51 yr old American guy in a support role. I rarely see men that age in BL's , let alone American ones. So I'm curious to know if he has a significant role or not (?)

Tim and I both loved "Made in Hong Kong," so I figured I'd key you into it as well since you said you're getting tired of BL's lately. The director, Fruit Chen, did another terrific one called "Dog Bites Dog" with the same lead, Sam Lee, as well as the hottie Edison Chen.

As for Silent Spark, yes, I agree the end was predictable, but as you also said, the journey was nonetheless enjoyable. I don't even care about spoilers because for me it's always more about the journey getting there than what happens at the end. I see people on MDL so obsessed with spoilers that they put innocuous lines like, "Great movie" under spoiler tags. I often open spoiler tags before watching a movie cuz I don't care about plot points, I want to experience the characters, sensibility, ideas, etc. I'm sure you agree since I've noticed you re-read novels.

The Sixth Sense is the only movie where the pleasure was contingent on a plot point, so I'm glad nobody had spoiled that for me. Then again, that's not a movie to re-watch once you know the surprise twist, whereas I'll re-watch something like Silent Spark. I want to see the characters' expressions and experience that atmosphere. I love dark, gritty atmospheres like that. I'd read that the director spent years working in a factory after film school and that, subsequently, his films always feature the working class. He certainly has a feel for that milieu.

It's refreshing to see gangsters who live in grimy, cramped apartments rather than in posh high rises, and who regard cops as a nuisance rather than "enemies to lovers" potential. There was nothing glamorous about the gangsters in Silent Spark. To the contrary, they were portrayed as low level thugs always struggling for cash. I do wish the movie had been longer though, and had included maybe a flashback to their relationship in prison. It needed a bit more context. I was particularly curious as to how those guys started their affair when Asian prison cells are groups of 8-12 men. I cannot figure out where and how Asian prisoners sneak sex.

Now for Chunking Express..... I not only dislike the movie, but the phraseology employed by its fans also drives me bonkers. You just know they'd picked it up in an undergrad Film Studies Course. They're all quoting some professor rather than saying anything genuine. Now, I did like "Happy Together," and appreciated its sense of realism. Which is why I was rather surprised by the forced quirkiness of Chunking Express. I mean, those fucking canned pineapples, the blond bouffant wigs, the endless replaying of California Dreaming. It was all so pronounced that I was waiting for a title card to flash below certain scenes , "Art Alert! Art Alert!"

I gather you liked it, and I'd certainly never accuse you of liking something at the behest of a Film Studies professor, so perhaps it's simply a question of taste. That's often the case with movies that are overly idiosyncratic, such that one either loves or hates them. Wes Anderson's movies hit people that way, and I can see why he irks some people. I adore his stuff, yet nonetheless got Tina Fey's joke when she hosted the Oscars: "I'm surprised Wes didn't arrive on a unicycle trailed by a band of merry elves with harpsicords." The camera panned to Anderson's face and, man-oh-man, was he ever insulted! lol.

Ok, I'll tie this up by saying I'd gone through all of your reviews today, so when you referenced being British in your above message, I thought of your line for that Cosmetic Counter J-BL: "He stares at a mirror all day long... Did it not occur to him, at least once, to think, "hang on, my wig looks like it was sheared by a British dentist"? lol. What is up with British dentists anyway? Dang, even Austin Powers had a running joke about British teeth!

Thanks for this! As ever, your reviews are witty without being snarky, and fun without being facile. But what your readers enjoy most is your creative capacity to devise formats (interview, mock conversation, screenwriters' pitch meeting , Bingo), through which to critique a show while freeing yourself from the critic's common pitfalls -- which is to say, arrogance, pretension, and overly-subjective perspective. Like everyone else here, I really dig 'em!

Can't wait to see what format you devise for the next show, just as I hope it's a truly, really, horrifyingly bad show. Like most funny people, you're at your best when the subject under review is at its worst. My fave is the review for "Takara no Vidro" wherein you quoted the critic Vivien Mercier on Waiting for Godot: "Nothing happens. Twice." Damned, that still kills me. The only good I gleaned from the 2 eps I'd seen was that I got more of your jokes. Man, the land of fluff's hit critical mass when a dead bird is the worst it's ever gotten for a character.

Ok, when I recommended "Silent Spark" the other day you said you were tiring of BL's, so I have a terrific non-BL for you. It's called "Made in Hong Kong" and I copy/pasted the comments that Tim and I had left on its page 2 years ago. We often watch a movie on the same evening, which is why we're always found together on MDL's comment pages.


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etoks21 2 years ago
Hard to believe that masterful film was made for the paltry sum of what would today be about $165,000.00 U.S. Yet again we see that more important than ANYTHING else about a film is whether or not it has a warm, beating heart. Like Aumtumn Moon Cake's own heart, this one is made of pure gold.

Near-perfection.
No, on second thought...perfection.
10/10


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Maggi64 2 years ago
The Best Film prize that this won in the Hong Kong Film Awards was entirely deserved, as was every word of praise it received in the Western Press. It's fresh, original, and sincere, while also imparting a terrific sense of the grittiness of a street kid's life in 90's Hong Kong. Best of all, it has real heart. The characters were conceived with a feeling so true that it translates to the viewer in ways at once tender, charming, funny and, alas, sad.

For instance, it's adorable when the male lead (Autumn Moon, played by Sam Lee in his 1st role), falls for a pretty, pixie, teenage girl since he says all the goofy things to court her that we'd imagine a sweet, word-addled, high school dropout saying to his crush (eg, he looks at her manicure the first time he asks her out, and defiantly says, "Who do you think you are, Madonna?"). Yet we no sooner laugh at Autumn Moon's clumsy pickup line than we're aching for him as he struggles to come up with cash for her life-or-death kidney surgery. The stakes are high, and this is signaled in a standout scene of the 2 teens joyously kissing........ in a cemetery.

I was equally touched watching tough, streetsy Autumn Moon take care of a large, slow-witted, boy whose family had abandoned him. There's a tenderness in how the small, skinny, clever teen cares for his big, dumb sidekick that echoes Lenny and George from "Of Mice and Men." And without giving spoilers I can say that this film, like that novel, kicks you in the stomach at the end. But the journey toward that ending is well worth it because the emotions are earned, and nothing felt false or contrived.

"Made In Hong Kong" cost a mere $80,000 but had me more emotionally invested than any star-splattered Hollywood Blockbuster where each star's paycheck is fifty times that of this film's entire budget. Indeed, the actors in this were all virtually unknown novices at the time. This makes it all the more impressive that the actors gave such ace performances evoking their characters' innocence, confusion, and love for each other.

Lastly, do not be fooled by the small number of viewers and low rating. MDL is a new site wherein people rarely visit pages for movies made over 5 years ago, and this is 28 years old. For a truer measure of this film's quality just google the and you'll find it was highly regarded both in Hong Kong, and internationally.

Thanks for your review, because I loved this too. In fact, I watched it twice.

However, I am highly confused by one line of your review, which I'll quote below:

"An important moment to get to know the two characters occurs when Mi Ji takes Pua's hand and masturbates. The distant camera, a closed and dark space, a subtle and slightly inclined atmosphere, creates a very romantic, but contained atmosphere."

When and where did this occur???

Thanks! I had realized that Kazuaki, aka, Beauty, had the same name as the roommate, and considered that Sei may have been using his roommate's phone. But this seemed unlikely. If I understand you correctly, your theory is that Sei is so into his roommate that he even used the guy's name, "Kazuaki," for his own email address. This would explain why the writers bothered to give 2 characters the same name to begin with. So that's a good theory and I'm going with it.

As for the roommate's hotness, yes, he's much hotter than the guy playing Sei. But Sei is a better actor. When I'd seen him in "The Man Who Defied the World of BL," I'd told Tim that I thought he was dorky looking. But Tim thought he had an interesting, attractive look, so I suppose it's a matter of taste. I still don't think he's especially attractive, but his hairstyle in this show suits him much better.

At any rate, the coupling feels realistic because exceptionally beautiful people don't always require exceptional beauty in a mate (it's plainer, insecure people who require that). Beautiful people are used to nobody else being in their league. Hence, they're attracted to someone's personality, as well as a certain look that appeals to them in some idiosyncratic, personal way.

Ah, ok, I gotta go back and rewatch now. Thank you!

You said the first episode included a very hot kiss, but where? I guess I need to re-watch cuz I thought they hadn't even met until ep 3, let alone kissed.

Thanks for this recommendation, cuz I just watched 3 eps and really like it. First off, the guys have at least some acting skill and can do basic things on camera, such as hold themselves naturally while standing face to face with someone. Most BL stars stand ram-straight, with legs unbent, feet planted flatly and parallel, and both arms limply hanging by their sides. Christ, even store mannequins are designed to have a bent knee, hand in motion, and maybe a cocked hip.

You'd think a director would instruct these kids to rest their hands casually on their hips, or in their pockets, or maybe hook a thumb through a belt loop. Alas, the directors are as amateur as the actors, so they don't notice how stiff and false this looks either. At any rate, the boys in Futtara Doshaburi know how to relax their bodies with ease while on camera.

I also like that it acknowledges sex as a feature of romance. I don't require sex scenes, but if it's a romance, it should portray sexual chemistry and a kiss between characters. On this show, they not only talk about sex, they masturbate! I'm female, but I grew up with 6 brothers and I remember their adolescence when they were always locking doors, taking really long "showers," and hiding porn mags all over the house. My sister once found one hidden between my teen bro's mattresses and tattled to mom. Mom said, "That's just how boys are. Now put it back where you found it." lol.

Now, I've seen masturbation implied in The Pornographer and My Beautiful Man, but this is the first BL where they showed the guy doing it in action. When I saw his hands moving while he breathed heavily, I was so surprised that I even checked to see if a man directed it, because most BL's that are realistic about sex are directed by men. Surprisingly, no, the director is female.

Ok, and now for questions.

1) How did Kazuaki mistakenly emailed Sei when their names are not even similar? It's actually Sei's boyfriend who shares Kazuaki's name. Wouldn't it have made more sense for Kazuaki to have mistakenly emailed the guy with the same name as him? Then I thought, ok, it's because he was using a work email address and coworkers' names would fly up on the address line. But if that were the case, then they'd know they worked at the same place, which they clearly did not. If it wasn't a work email, and they don't have similar names, how the heck did this email confusion happen?

2) If Sei is gay, then why isn't he staring constantly at Kazuaki? That boy has bone structure from The Gods! Hell, hetero guys would also stare at him. So would lesbians. And little kids, and old people. Even celibate virgins of the Sacred Order of Immaculate Mother Mary!

It's impossible to gage true Asian attitudes toward homosexuality by BL's. As you said, the majority of Japanese approve of gay marriage, yet in BL's we still have a teenager say to his potential lover, "But we are both men?" as if the concept of gayness dumbfounds him. There's also BL's like HOTE (Japan) where a gay teen's family disowned him, or Where Your Eyes Linger (Korea), where a dad punishes his kid for being gay. At the same time, the majority of BL's present friends , families and even co-workers as being 100% cool with the gay characters.

Given the conflicting messages in BL World, I look to LGBT movies for a firmer grip on how East Asians actually feel about homosexuality. I suspect their attitude is where America's was about 20 years ago, wherein upper educated and urban people were open to it, but there was still resistance in conservative and religious communities. These days, even conservative and Christian Americans have figured out that their loved ones can be (and often are) gay too.

I didn't know that gay marriage was legalized in Thailand today . Rock on, that's cool!

I actually did see Moonlight Chix, because Tim recommended it to me. He said he knew I dismissed all Thai BL's and, thus, I wouldn't know about this so he figured he'd key me in. I agreed that the subplot with the deaf teen and his boyfriend was worth it. I even fast-forwarded through the other couple at a certain point just to get to the teens faster. I've seen a deaf lead in about 5 other BL's, but this was the best rendition of them all.

I'm not sure if I'd call the "deaf lover" a BL trope yet, but BL writers have certainly latched onto it as an easy disability to portray, since the deaf are higher functioning in an abled society than are blind or paralyzed people, who need assistance and look different. Deaf people can get by without any aids or equipment, and you'd never notice them in a crowd. A loud speaking voice is the only marked difference, and BL's omit that aspect of the disability anyway. In other words, BL producers like deafness because they can cast a cute boy without worry! At any rate, the point is that Moonlight Chix handled the deaf lead nicely. So much so that I fast-forwarded to get to that couple. I also fast-forwarded through Kinn/Porsch at the end cuz I didn't give a shit about the mystery with the mother.

These shows are all too long anyway, at 1 hour an ep for 12-15 eps. Since there's little story to begin with, I'm convinced this is not to cover all the plot points, but to fit in more product placements. The pp's in Kinn/Porsche were hilariously obvious! Why not just have the actors break the third wall, face the camera, and talk to we consumers directly? You know, Kinn can eat some toast and margarine and declare, "I can't believe it's not butter!" It also amused me that the only hetero couple in the entire show was the fish couple, Elizabeth and Sebastian. How do actual human beings reproduce in this world?

But I totally feel you on how it effected you strongly because it was one of the first BL's you'd seen. That's how I felt about "My Beautiful Man." Back then, I did not yet know that BL Rule #1 was for the leads to hook up happily by the end. Hence, I was genuinely surprised when that snotty, arrogant beauty ended up having secretly pined for the stuttering, stalking weirdo the whole time.

I'd still like it even today because Hira was weirder than we ordinarily get in BL's, I just wouldn't be surprised by it. Hira was a true outcast, rather than the standard BL "outcast" who's a hot-as-hell boy smoldering in the back of the classroom, and who just needs a little love to break his tough exterior, which is a product of his abusive home life (heck, that's the blueprint they used on the bad boy of the BL you just reviewed, "Our Youth"). Hira is a legit outcast who's flat out creepy. I thought that was original characterization, and would amuse most smart people outside the BL fandom. In fact, I'm not sure that the BL fandom even got this show because it was rated 7.6 on MDL. It got sequels cuz the Japanese themselves liked it (now that's a country that appreciates weirdos). Alas, the sequels grew progressively weaker (ie, Hira grew more normal and Kiyou grew less arrogant), so naturally the MDL ratings grew much higher.

The Pornographer is one of the only BL's where all 3 installments were good. I'd also seen that back when BL was new to me and, hence, I enjoyed the entire genre. But I'd still enjoy it even today, whereas I'd no longer enjoy many others that I liked back then, such as "Addicted" and "Irresistible Love." I tried re-watching both recently and the bad acting leapt at me. But since I'd seen them both over 3 years ago when I'd just discovered the genre, they struck me as charming.

Ok, for Samuel Richardson. I am not really a fan, and only read it cuz I had a course on The Rise of the Novel in grad school. I preferred Fielding's satires of Pamela. In fact, just last week I watched the PBS production of Joseph Andrews (aka, Pamela Andrew's brother). It starred Peter Firth, who was in Equus, and was lots of fun. Otherwise, the only other novels from that era that I enjoyed were Defoe's bawdy "Moll Flanders" and Laurence Sterne's "Tristam Shandy" -- but only because it was fascinating to witness its proto post-modern stream of consciousness.

As for the Japanese classics you cite, I need to go through your list again. I'd seen a lot of the old classics even before I'd discovered Asian film 4 years ago. I'd seen and liked "Tokyo Story," "Rashomon," "Hari Kari," "Pigs and Battleships" and "Cure." Those are all the sorts of Asian films you'd see at a NY Retro Film House (which they actually still had in the 90's when I lived there). But I hadn't heard of some from your list, so I must go through it. I am in need of good Asian titles this week, since it's too cold to go out!

Someone said to google the Japanese name for it. Do you know the Japanese title?

I worry that Japan's, Taiwan's, and Korea's BL industries figured out that Thailand makes billions churning out crap that costs them zip to make because they're written, directed and performed by amateurs. So why bother investing time, money and talent when you can make as much profit (if not more), by giving your market less? The real problem is that we are part of a fanbase that enjoys the crap and, therefore, the BL industry shall oblige by making more crap. In short, yes, the BL's have been getting worse.

I left a long comment on your Ossan's review (thx for the dedication!) so I shan't go on too long here. I just have one question, and here it is: What is with Asian schools and open rooftops? I've seen dozens of shows/movies where high school kids hang out on their school's rooftop, which is unheard of in America. Nor have I ever seen high school kids from any other countries but Asian hanging out on rooftops. What's up with that?