Reviews

Not Good Enough

Japanese Movie '' Familia '' is a family drama that blends in the stories of different people from different backgrounds, as they, eventually, become a family.

The movie starts out quite weakly. The first half actually was boring, as the story was trying to find its footing and get a grip on what it was going to be about. Things started picking up in the second half though, however, that also meant that there was little time left for anything proper to develop. So, the movie suffered, in the end, by the false passing and the confusion of what it is going to narrate ultimately.

The acting, on the other hand, was enjoyable throughout it, especially by the father, who was really strong when it came to the emotional scenes.

So, overall, three out of ten stars for the movie '' Familia ''.

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Not Good Enough

Japanese Movie '' Kazoku '' is a drama that blends multiple stories of four men and their families.

The movie has a brilliant cinematography, with smooth shots and nicely handled light and shadows. The sharp editing also helped with the story's mood, with some scenes bringing to mind home movies.

On the other hand, the movie suffered a lot due to its short length. As it is a film about four different characters and their families, a one hour and twenty minutes run time is too short for the stories to develop properly and for the message to come across. Thus, the whole film felt like a music video, with half-baked storylines; storylines that had so much potential, especially Kenji's and Takeo's.

Finally, the performances were enjoyable and really strong by everyone in the cast.

So, overall, four out of ten.

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Simple and worthwhile

This movie was a lovely surprise. It's a straight-forward, well-realised coming-of-age story with a strong focus on sports and friendship, as well as a delightful romance.
The audio and visuals are strong, the script - while not perfect - is solid, and the story quite skillfully tackles some more serious issues like sexual abuse and homophobia even if it doesn't focus on them too heavily.
Watching this honestly felt like watching a classic 2000s teen sports movie, it had such a wonderful sense of nostalgia about it. It reminded me slightly of Bend It Like Beckham except, you know, actually gay.
If you consider the story by itself it may be nothing too special, but it's earnest, fun, and delightfully queer - a perfect watch for a cozy weekend.

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A movie that will annoy you

A movie that would want you to jump and intervene through the screen. The bullying scenes made me squint my eyes I was fighting the urge to skip in some scenes.

Now regarding the story I wouldn't say it is far fetch from reality in a way. Social status, wealth, and reputation are something that is known to us. After hearing about teachers quitting and committing suicide due to student-teacher bullying, this drama made me think how bad it is in real life (hopefully not to this extent). This drama is a friction but I also felt it represents a desire and 'IF ONLY'.

I have read someone write that the villain was straight from hell and I couldn't agree more. His acting is next level, it wouldn't be too far-fetched if I say he is a psychopath cause that wasn't normal. One thing I'm not a big fan of is when high school bullies don't look like high schoolers. in this case, the villain looked way older. the fighting scenes were top-notch (coming from someone who knows nothing about it).

Now about the ending I don't know, it was somewhat of an open ending but not really, we know she will expose and turn the school into a safe place. we also get that her former colleague might have told her to join this new school.

Overall, I wish this was a drama instead, I think I might have enjoyed it more. Maybe cause I love backstories and also love to know if the villains are facing the consequences of their actions. but as a movie, I will say it is okay not the best and not the worst too.

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Not my cup of tea, but still worth watching

So this one just wasn't for me. I'm usually a sucker for soulmate stories but here the concept didn't really work for me.
I will say, however, that the production quality is fairly high for a short little indie movie and I very much enjoyed the final message and the spirit in which the story was told.
This was clearly a passion project for the film makers and that love really shines through.
I am beyond thrilled about how YouTube and the like have become platforms for queer creators to realise their vision over these past two-ish decades and this short film is a perfect example of exactly such a vision come to life.
Give it a shot, maybe it'll hit just right for you even if it didn't for me.

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A joyous roller-coaster ride

Oh but I adore this little indie production.
I have a weak spot for that inimitable shoe-string budget charm a lot of these small projects bring to the table and this film is an excellent example of why that's the case. You can tell how much love and effort was put into every single aspect of the movie and that passion is what makes it shine.
The story covers more ground than quite a few full-length shows do but the pacing is well done and the individual performances are all so excellent they lend a feeling of authenticity to the story that I greatly enjoyed.
I hope to see more from these film-makers in the future but for now I am more than happy to simply watch and rewatch this little gem ad nauseum.

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There is a fish

Why does the synopsis reveal the entire plot of the movie? Luckily there is a fish in the movie that can be related to our main character, the mysterious woman Ji-soo who collects and examines garbage from other people, and this comparison is the most interesting thing about the movie.

The idea to be able to know other people through their garbage is not bad but it is highly unrealistic from the perspective of this movie. The main character, Ji soo has only around 10 Folders but she documents every trash piece of every tenant?! If I knew someone with this kind of "hobby" I would surely think that this person is crazy although it could be a product of an introvert person who is interested in other people but is afraid to approach them directly. This is where we as viewers can sympathise with our main character and wish her to open up for the real human contact. The movie is good for what it is and it manages to emotionally connects us with the story and characters.

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Now this is what I like to call, a remake done right

The original movie is iconic and forever engraved herein in the hearts of those who saw it. I recommend watching it for those you haven't yet. However, this remake certainly hits differently. It's a bit sadder, more poignant and yet it retains a certain beauty to it with the message it delivers. I think it's mostly because of Jing Hua's ability to portray emotions like he does in his roles, and in here is no different. Or the way they made this storyline become even more symbolic with every single detail.

Honestly, I really enjoyed the pace of how this remake was made.

The changes into the plot were nicely done, the most important details and essence of the original movie from 2010 was kept and replayed with the same lines and meaning and even improved in some ways in this version of 2023. They balanced out the comedy breaks with the blue vibes and sensible theme this story already has quite evenly. The flow of the whole composition as well as the connection between the two main characters made more sense in here. I even have to praise that the dynamics of the four ghosts felt more in unity too, oh and let's not forget that the new integrated elements, the changes of characters, their professions or life troubles, and overall moral messages turned all of this remake into a great symbolic masterpiece.

A word of advice I can give, is to try and read between the lines. Since, every sentence has a deep meaning.

Praise to whoever thought of using Tamagotchi toys in this remake. For example, in the original it uses Bopki also known as Dalgona candy which is no less iconic in providing some sweetness to such a bittersweet life. The value of both elements varies from Korea to Taiwan and the contribution to the plot. However, it's the sole part of raising the Tamagotchi pet, caring for it's basic needs, making all kind of efforts to prevent it from dying, or just the meaning of a new start that is beyond thoughtful. :')

Incredible how the noise they make can resemble heartbeats. :')

There are parts that will make you laugh and question when the sadness will start. Truth be told it hits more than once, but it's all worthy until the end. The cinematography is great and the effects are good enough too. This movie really makes you value the little things that we often take for granted and revaluate life and death priorities, or the importance of second chances in forgiveness and the will to try again. Although it deals with sensitive topics... the message it tries to convey is more of a beacon of hope to those of us who have been or are still lost for quite sometime now and on the brink of giving up... No one is truly born and living "alone" in this world, there is always a connection with anyone we meet in our lives, and that leaves a mark. A mark we chose to neglect or to remember, to cherish or to hate it, to embrace or to surrender. After all, amid all the laughter there can be some hidden pain, amid endless tears there can be a strong painful motive, amid any troublesome addiction there can be a guilty conscious, amid every heart aching loneliness there can be a strong desire of a loving bond or dream of a family.

For all that and more I actually recommend both movies. The original and this remake are worth watching.
Take your personal pick on which one you manage to like best. I liked the original, and yet loved the remake. ;)

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An ambitious firework without a foundation.

To save Earth from colliding with Jupiter, a group of young people must work together to save humanity. Despite an enormous ambition and budget, the film is let down by one-sided characters and sometimes excruciating dialogue.

The Wandering Earth is by far the biggest science fiction film made in China. Based on the book of the same name, with a production budget of $45,000,000, this is a major milestone in China's film industry.

In the near future, the Sun has begun to expand, and within a few years all life on Earth will cease to exist. Humanity then hatches the idea to build 10,000 giant mountain-like engines that will cover half the earth's surface, and turn the earth into a giant spaceship that will then fly away from the sun in search of a new source of energy. I'm not making this up.

During the flight from the sun, the surface of the earth is frozen and all the people have been moved to underground cities, but one day two young people want to sneak up to the surface and experience it for the first time since the expansion of the sun started. Suddenly, they are drawn into a rescue mission, when Earth's engines stop working and must be repaired before our planet ends up on a collision course with Jupiter.

This film is ambitious. Incredibly ambitious. We get to see everything from gigantic, detailed space stations, to frozen cities, to pictures of planets that could just as easily be beautiful paintings. It's noticeable that a lot of time and money has been spent on the production value, and it makes the whole film feel bigger than many other disaster films we've seen in Western films in recent years.

There are exceptions when it comes to special effects though. Unfortunately, the characters spend a lot of time driving around in cars, and the car chases look like they're from any playstation game from 2004. It's immediately apparent that it's 100% made in a computer, and it's eye-popping when you see it.

As ambitious as the film is, it is action-packed. It feels like they have moved away from the classic structure with three acts, and instead went straight to the third act. You start the film with a disaster, and from the fast start the film doesn't want to slow down. It is certainly something that is common in disaster films, but it would have been nice to have a couple of scenes where you can catch your breath. However, the film gets better in the second half, when the main characters come together and are given a mission that is easier to follow.

What brings this movie down is unfortunately the characters. One character is supposed to be a typical humor sidekick, but just comes across as a screaming, annoying form of Jar Jar Binks. Another should be the restrained protagonist who only sees darkness and negativity. It is hard to care about them when they are so one-sided and exaggerated in their behavior. Then add that the supporting characters spend a lot of time in their spacesuits, which makes it difficult to keep track of who is who.

Something else you could have put more love into is the dialogues. At times you might think that a beginner has written them. When our main antagonist tells his sister about the 10,000 engines and why they exist, it's clearly a conversation that exists for us as the audience to get that information. The sister of course already knows this, as it's the reason they've been living underground for 10+ years.

Unfortunately, I'm having a hard time getting into The Wandering Earth. After a bad start with subpar special effects and hard-to-love characters, I can't appreciate the huge spectacle that the second half of the film offers. It's ambitious, lavish and brave, but when I don't get a sensible human entry point, it stops at superficial fireworks instead of something deeper.

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A battle you won't soon forget.

The opening film at the Berlin International Film Festival took a full 9 years to complete. Veteran perfectionist Wong Kar Wai is putting in the finishing touches, spending so much time on In the Mood for Love that the staff behind the Cannes festival worried that the film would not be able to enter the competition where it was scheduled to have its world premiere in 2000.

The year is 1936 in southern China. Gong Baosen (Wang Qingxiang) has passed his glory days and is about to retire. It is celebrated according to tradition at the Gold Pavillion brothel where Baosen challenges a younger man with the potential to take over the title of kung fu master. Ip Man (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) - Who in real life tutored Bruce Lee and trained in Wing Chun - Accepts the ordeal and takes over as the film's centerpiece.

War breaks out in Foshan between China and Japan and in the meantime Gong Baosen is murdered by his disciple Man San. Before leaving Earth, he wishes his daughter, Gong Er (Ziyi Zhang), to renounce a life in the world of martial arts, live in peace with a man by her side and not seek revenge. But can she resist the temptation with her father's fighting spirit in her blood?

The Grandmaster is told as a memoir with an eye on the past where the fourth wall is broken, jumping between romances and civil wars. The film spins on for two decades with clanging swords, pattering rain and kicks left and right. Sound, special effects and saturated lighting work together to form a kaleidoscope. Clouds of smoke and the sound of lovely strings in the background are earlier characteristics that can of course also be found in this work.

One could go on forever about the precise technical skills that make one drool with fascination. There is no doubt that the material has been handled with precision and the stylistic beauty is both a credit to the direction and script by Wong Kar Wai, as well as the impeccable work of cinematographer Philippe Le Sourd and William Chang Suk Ping who edited all of Wong's films. The camera records every little detail and every frame is a photograph or a painting.

The product is a film that, due to its dedicated cast, probably offers the most sensational and beautiful fight sequences ever seen. It provides a crash course in martial arts etiquette, different styles and holds, as well as the history of the Chinese nation with conflicts between the south and the north.

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Well made and shocking.

Director Zhang Yimou does not shy away from horrors. He avoids pushing our noses into the violence, The Flowers of War is after all a drama and not a splatter film. And it is a drama, a well-made and thoroughly well-acted one.

Christian Bale notwithstanding, The Flowers of War was not made with American money (and apparently only the second all-Chinese film ever with a Hollywood star in the lead role), which may explain why it never made it to cinemas in Sweden. Because films that are not Swedish or English rarely do. It's certainly not a masterpiece, I don't intend to go that far, but surely there would have been room for a larger audience.

In The Flowers of War, Christian Bale plays a not-quite-clean funeral director, John Miller, who goes to a Catholic church in Nanjing, China, to take care of the dead priest there. But it is not very simple, because it all takes place during the so-called Nanjing Massacre, and there is chaos both on the way to and in the church. Where there is also only a group of children, with one exception consisting of girls, left. The not-quite-clean-haired undertaker decides to stay for a while, he has to get paid, and soon finds himself in a protective position he never asked for.

A history lesson might be in order, if you, like me, have never heard of the massacre in question. There was a six-week period after the then-capital of China, Nanjing, fell into Japanese hands, during a Japanese invasion of the country in 1937 (the Second Sino-Japanese War), when invading soldiers in the most heinous ways raped and murdered mostly Chinese civilians in and proximity to the capital.

Director Zhang Yimou (who has, among other things, fairly well-known Hero and Flying Daggers to his name) does not shy away from horrors. He avoids shoving our noses into the violence, The Flowers of War is after all a drama and not a splatter film, but it is somehow, in or out of picture, ever-present. From the initial attack to the aftermath of inhuman acts. Efficient. Nasty.

And it is a drama, a well-made and downright well-acted one, and without checking numbers I'd venture to guess that it was made on a sizable budget. Then it's a bit of a shame that it falls a few times along the way. There are no deep pits, but various small shortcuts in the story and one or the other forced emotional moments can still disturb. Although it's clear, by all means, it's still a lot better than the average modern Spielberg film.

Comments regarding Christian Bale's effort should be redundant, at least if we assume that people generally think his efforts are shitty. And I belong to these general types.

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Great action movie but has a weak plot point

Man I love movies with Andy Lau and Sean Lau in them, it is guaranteed to be an exciting film and this one is surely one of those films that had a lot of action with many explosions. The premise of the story is that Andy Lau and Sean Lau are both bomb disposal experts working with the police, but during one event, Andy gets his leg blown off and so is unable to take part in active duty of bomb disposal. Refusing to settle for a desk job, he publicly protests his treatment during an award event when he was to get an ward for his bravery, and then quits his job.

Some time later he was found at a scene where there was a bomb planted, and he manages to get injured in the blast and lose his memory. Yes, it is the old amnesia plot that leads to Andy redeeming himself later in the movie. The action and acting were great but the biggest weakness was in the plot, which just stands out too much for my liking. What happened was that Andy Lau became so disillusioned with his treatment after getting his leg destroyed (people pitying him and not allowing him dispose bombs) that he decided to start a terrorist organisation to bomb key strategic locations in Hong Kong. Like what the actual f, how did “oh no my leg is blown off” escalate to “f Hong Kong Police and Hong Kong, Imma plant bombs yo!”

And boy, despite needing a prosthetic leg, Andy Lau was running and jumping and doing crazy parkour as if his leg was never lost on the first place. Like seriously, if he can do all that the Police should have kept him in active bomb disposal duty. I mean it would cost less fuel to get him to the location as he would be lighter, he wouldn’t lose that leg again if a bomb went off and he wouldn’t have started that terrorist cell in the first place.

Only the action and acting from Andy and Sean keep this movie afloat, everything else was a bit meh.

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Stunningly beautiful but frustratingly slow.

If you're in the mood for beautiful artistic 9th century style, long takes and a complicated story in a slow film, then The Assassin is probably your cup of tea. If you want to see a cool martial arts movie - Watch something else.

When you see The Assassin you are faced with the age-old question: What makes a good movie? Some prefer a strong story, others powerful effects. Here, a story that arouses no great interest is combined with an artistic style that is unlike anything else.

For those who follow the story, it is about a female assassin in 8th century China. Like many assassins on film, she is faced with the classic dilemma of having her loved one killed or failing her duty, something that meant slightly greater consequences at the time.

If you are looking for a juicy story, you need to have both a lot of concentration and patience, because the director Hou Hsiao-hsien is hardly someone who prioritizes pace, forward-looking lines or clear character development. We're talking sometimes forever-long takes, extremely sparse or no dialogue and scenes that work more like art installations.

Undoubtedly, it is a stunningly beautiful film. The environments, the scenography, the costumes - Almost every single frame is like a painting or the most delicious photograph you've seen on a cinema screen. One could practically watch the film without sound and admire the impressive work of the film's creative team.

With that said and the cool visual style aside, it's a frustratingly slow film to get through. As a contrast to the often overly clear film narration in, for example, American cinema, this becomes almost incomprehensible and unnecessarily complicated.

The fight scenes are the highlights - Not because it's exciting but because of the quiet and calm style. But it's still one of the most boring martial arts movies out there. It is a perfect example of "see but not feel" - Gentle on the eyes, but you leave the salon with a slightly empty and unsatisfied feeling.

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