Reviews

Not my cup of tea : it went above my head

The story is very simple but I think the title of the YouTube English subtitled video for this short movie spoils a bit what might have been left as an interrogation point for the viewer. Not sure what were the intention of the writer regarding that aspect of the story. Overall, it is a gloomy and dramatic story which did not really interested me.

The internal voice of the main character was I think supposed to be poetic with a juxtaposition of saxophone and piano music. But it absolutely did not work for me. I felt totally detached of what was happening on screen and what the character was saying.

I would not recommend this to people. I found the story pretty bleak. It is a very short movie of 13 minutes, so you might want to give it a shot and make your own opinion on it.

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You'll cry

This movie was so emotional and heart touching. I've never watched something that made me see something different in life. The emotions and actions that carried within this movie was so good. This movie is very special.
A poem I made for this movie.

In a hospital where dreams reside,
Two artists' paths began to glide.
Through sketches soft and colors bold,
A love story started to unfold.

Challenges came, as shadows cast,
But through their art, they held steadfast.
With every stroke, they mended pain,
In each other's hearts, they'd remain.

The final piece, a masterpiece,
Their love immortalized in peace.
Drawing closer, hand in hand,
They found their place, a promised land.

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Too short to really exploit the potential of the story

This very short BL movie (only 11 minutes) depicts the unexpected hookup of a guy with the twin brother of his ex. Does it sound messy ? Yes. Does it sound interesting ? Yes (-at least to me). Unfortunately, despite me finding the idea interesting, there is not enough time to really exploit it. The short movie has an interesting twist as well but again, it is too short to really make something ultra impactful of it.

The acting was relatively average, nothing really outstanding but I think it might be due to the format. The actor playing the twins managed to create two characters that felt distinct enough but it could have been better. That's said the script was minimalist enough to not have that much to play with. Production value felt limited, not a lot to see there but suitable for the format. Music was also not memorable at all.

I would not necessarily recommend this to people unless you are looking for a short BL with a messy premise. I'm left to wonder if a slightly longer format would have help amping the stakes and emotions for the characters.

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The Film Devours Its Own Message for Tasty Visuals

Imagine a touching story about a farmer's daughter and her favorite goat. They're pals. But one day she learns her Dad sold this goat for money and she's angry. So she goes on a quest to the city to get her goat back.

That's basically the story of this film, but this version of the story is injected with fantasy, fantastic CGI, animal rescue weirdos, corporate psychos, and frankly as many chase scenes as they could manage to infest what should have been a simple touching story.

I watch C-Dramas mostly. The main reason is that they understand LESS IS MORE. The Koreans have spent too much time watching our Western films and when they try to please us -- these lose me.

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A film that has something in it...

A film that has something in it that I can't exactly define from my inner perspective, gentle, light and essentially simple, about the beauty of life and individual moments, fragments of life that are not always completely clear. I perceive it not as a short film, it is exactly on the border (40 min), but as a feature film, which was also awarded at the Seoul International PRIDE Film Festival in 2021. I also appreciate that the guys were chosen realistically, they are not handsome guys from a poster and I don't mind the slightly open ending at all, on the contrary, I like the film and its mood ...

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The most nothing movie one could see.

I don't think I can quite articulate fully how much of a boring film this is except for ironically laughing at some terrible line delivery and bad effects. It made me feel like I wanted to write about how bad it was however so it did *something*.
Short review: Don't watch, It's really not worth 1h 40 unless you want background noise that doesn't really matter.
Long review with full movie spoilers: The opening was the coldest of cold, interesting somewhat but it leaves much to be desired. As the movie progresses, however, it just continues to not deliver on any kind of interest except for flakes of what one would *like* to see, but don't get done or thought of.
The whole plot can just be solved by characters just shutting their mouths and not talking, but no we *need* to have these people killed by them being stupid and blurting out her name. Sometimes in films that's fine if you can see some cool effects or other parts of a film to get attached to at least, but this doesn't even deliver on anything at all. Somewhat decent makeup work but that's about as much credit I can give. The exploded eyes don't *quite* look right but it's nothing goofy bad, just that you can kind of tell it's not real.
The director was *not* good so everything else tumbles down with it, for example, usually good actors in other series who are featured in this give some really bad performances. I've seen Inaba Yu give some amazing performances in Sing in Love and other films/series, but it seemed rather obvious he wasn't given all too much to work with or given little to no direction.
The writing was really something else in terms of how much it missed it's own mark of what it tried to be. None of the characters have much behind them except for the reporter and it's a bit ridiculous how little anything happens to any of them of interest. You just get told something happened either to them or about someone, and go " what? " before it moves on and you don't get anything else. Haruo's conflict with his brother gets brought up twice in such small segments, and then we never see or hear of any of that again, it's like that for basically everything that happens. There's even a whole character death that happens that you don't even see and just get told about in passing after the fact, which was stupid? I genuinely had to ask the friend I was watching it with if I hadn't just gone insane and somehow blocked it out of my brain. It's almost like they couldn't get the actor back to do the scene so they had to hurridly pretend it happened.
Generally how the writing went is that it tells a thing to your face, expecting that to be enough to make a character have background, and then it's never spoken of again and neither do characters reflect on it.
As just a personal opinion, I believe it suffers with having too much to get done in it's runtime, something that may have been nicely fixed if they took out the amount of characters involved and simply let the audience have more time to settle into their character. There are gleams of what could have been in there but none of it comes to reality so you're left with a deflated balloon of a movie.
The ending was rubbish, as, quite literally, it just ends with no significance other than the implication that the main guy dies perhaps. Just a cut to credits. Nothing else. The concept of her hitting her head and forgetting the demon's name and what experiences she had with Haruo was good on paper but executed so awkwardly. The taste of the burnt fish was also strange to have been the thing to come back since she's known her own friend who died at the beginning for much longer. Having a callback to the friend would have been nice rather than her promising she'd remember her and then clearly not doing so for the whole rest of the movie's runtime (unless this is a metaphor of some kind in Japan to taste fish or whatever it was, then feel free to correct me and I will amend my review).
In conclusion, It's a mess of a movie and super not worth your time unless you want to see it as mildly ironically entertaining. I had ironic enjoyment out of watching it by giggling about it with a friend of mine, but man that's 1h39m I'm not getting back. Don't bother with it. Stay clear.

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Interesting Plot but not enough time!

So i really love the plot idea tbh, i would've loved it to be way longer ofc and deeper, there were a lot of subplots that could've been explored more in depth & i would've liked more screen time of the MC's and their chemistry. I'd like to see such a similar plot in another serie~


I was also shocked to find out that the MC's+ side characters are in a real Kpop group together hahaha🥰


the acting is okay, its the first time! (KB seems like a good potential to get into acting i think? with more practice he could get very good!) i would LOVEE to see more of the MC's maybe in another drama? :3 their chemistry is really good

overall you can watch it for passing time, its cute and short!


if any of the group members read through reviews, you did great! fighting! 💞


support the irl group! they're great :)

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Quiet Romance

Title: "Karakai Jozu no Takagi-san" MOVIE – Teasing master takagi-san

Story:
As a fan of the anime and manga, I was so excited about this movie. I’ve also watched the live-action series featuring a younger Takagi and Nishikata, but you don’t need to have seen it to enjoy this film as it stands well on its own.

What I appreciated most is how this movie captures the same relaxing and nostalgic vibe as the anime. It’s quiet, slow-paced, and even a bit awkward at times, which some might find dull, but I personally enjoyed it. In fact, it feels more like a true “coming-of-age” story compared to the live action in their younger years. The romance is subtle and focuses largely on ML realizing his feelings.

While I liked the film overall, I was slightly disappointed by the absence of other characters (Yukari, Hibino, and Sanae), as well as the minimal development in the relationship between the leads from their childhood days. But I loved that they showed "100% Unrequited Love" and also baby Chi.

That said, I really appreciate this adaptation, and the confession scene stood out to me for its realism. Although the side story about the students felt quite average, it didn’t detract too much from the overall experience.

Acting/Cast:
I enjoyed the chemistry between the ML and FL. It’s subtle but fitting for the tone of the story. I really loved Takagi. Here, she’s less clever, more demure, and more shy. This shows her growth into a woman and the actress did an excellent job. Nishikata remains as innocent as ever, but there’s more depth to him now. He’s not just a boy anymore but a teacher trying his best. Watching him slowly acknowledge his feelings and with more maturity to his character that I really appreciated.

Music:
I love the music/OST for this. I hoped they kept the anime version OST or atleast the first song tho so it’ll be more nostalgic
Rewatch Value:
I will definitely rewatch this especially when I just want something light, and relaxing.

Overall:
I may be biased since I really love karakai jozu no takagi-san but this for me, delivers a touching, quiet romance that fans of Teasing Master Takagi-san

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Great Musical Movie with a Good Message

I haven't watched the original 1982 movie nor the 2018 stage musical so I have no other platforms to compare the story of this movie to.

I thought the story was able to tell a good message about how fanaticism and idol worship can lead to destruction. I also love the songs, they are present to move the story forward or inform about the characters, instead of just being there.

The acting was excellent. I thought Aicelle Santos was great and she was my bet for Best Actress but the rest of the cast is also praiseworthy. They all have excellent skills and in my opinion are all better actors than a lot of famous actors you see in Philippine TV.

9.5/10 stars

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Excellent Movie with Great Acting Performances

I'm not intro prisoner movies but I was so excited for this movie the moment it was announced because of the cast (Dennis Trillo plus featuring Iza Calzado) and the director (Zig Dulay, who directed one of my favorite Filipino series Maria Clara at Ibarra). It did not disappoint.

Surely there are some parts of the story that is a bit predictable (I kind of guessed that Dennis's character is nicer than he is, why else would a movie that stars him as a prisoner be a movie about hope and kindness?). However the way the story is presented still amazes me. I love the fact that we are presented a complete picture of the story through two different narratives/points of view. First, from Ruru's Javier character, where we understand why he thinks criminals can never be repentant of their actions and then later on Dennis's Domingo, where we learn that we never really know a person's real personality unless we actually spend time with the person.

I thought Dennis's character Domingo has some similarities with Flower of Evil's (https://kisskh.at/54625-flower-of-evil) main character Do Hyun Soo, both are suspected criminals, both are talented in woodcarving, both have close relationships with a little girl. Even with the characters having similarities (even both shows have a theme of even a person who appears or has done wicked things in the past, he/she can show some goodness), Green Bones is still very different from Flower of Evil, and its plot is very unique.

The acting performances are also great. From the trailers alone, it's very obvious that Dennis has amazing range and acting capabilities. You see him as the character, not as Dennis Trillo playing the character (I especially felt this as I'm currently watching his TV series Pulang Araw where he played a ruthless Japanese officer). He has good chemistry with the little girl who played his niece Ruth (Sienna Stevens). This is my first time watching Ruru Madrid and he certainly was able to held his own against Dennis Trillo. Wendell Ramos is effective as a ruthless guard, he really was so scary in this movie. I also enjoyed seeing Alessandra De Rossi and Iza Calzado, both gave great performances despite their acting parts being short (I also love Iza and Dennis's family chemistry). The girls who played Ruth (Sienna Stevens and Sofia Pablo) are also great rising young actresses. I love seeing Mikoy Morales here after Pulang Araw, it's hilarious to see him and Dennis being friends here when Dennis's Pulang Araw character tortured his (Mikoy) character.

I'll rate this movie 9.5/10

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Amazing directing of sophisticated layered characters!

Such a wonderful piece by Okita Shuichi Kantoku whose sense of humor is sophisticately elevated with unique acting crew!
I was pretty amazed to see this cast assembly starting with fact that we will be watching Igawa Haruka as a mom more often, also m, cannes winner Yagira with nice touch of interpretating the "normals" of society, of course magnificent NON and a layer of reality, KAHO that bonds audiences with the story.

Film also won the JSFF title of Nikola Stojanović Legacy Award, apparently a big deal in Serbian community, but it definitely proven is wastly underrated overseas.

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