Reviews

I thought it was a light-hearted movie yet it ended up tragically

Queen YooJung made it again. I actually miss watching YooJung and I haven't seen her on both movies and dramas for a while so I really got excited about this new movie. And as usual she delivers. I missed her youthful appearance in a show. I still can't see her doing mature roles. She's still teen and a high school fairy for me.

Enough of YooJung though, let's get int the plot. I was actually ecstatic watching the first hour. I saw myself giggling, laughing and relating to the characters. It took me back to those high school crushes days that everyone might have experienced. Then I get that along the way, conflict must arise and I kind of predicted it from the beginning. Everything is all good until after WoonHo left. I felt like they should've ended it there but they just thought it would be nice to have a twist. I didn't feel heartbroken that he died. I feel mad that I was hoping a happy ending yet they gave me a tragedy, It's my personal agony though.

If you've been reading through this, I hoped you've watched the movie already because I basically spilled everything here. I warned though that spoilers are here. I still loved the movie though and myghad, there's a lot of oppa's here. I never thought of Byeon Woo Seok until this movie. I just discovered a new oppa to add on my list. Anyway, overall. This is still a fairly good movie to watch so I still highly recommend it specially for fans of YooJung.

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This film was a breed of mysticism and magical realism that you so rarely see anymore. One that demands the viewer to take time and weigh the details in their mind (so much so, that i had to draft this review in a word document, rather than straight into the MDL textbox). One that provides ample fruit for analysis upon reconsumption. One that requires absolute mastery of cinematography and characters.

“Are we really in the present? I don’t know. We are losing the certainty of being in the present. It could be the past. It could be the future.”

Put in the most simplest of terms, this was a story of reincarnation and rebirth. In it, we see two converging timelines of parallel souls anchored to the forest in which the story takes place. At first, it’s subtle. Mere flickers of visions across Joan’s consciousness. But towards the end, we see it leak into her reality more and more, until she comes to a revelation. The “vision” herb/fungus for which she felt a desperate and indescribable need to find (“I don’t know. I don’t know. I need it.”) wasn’t for her happiness. Nor even mankind’s.

But rather to heal and cleanse the forest of the tragedy that simultaneously happened long in the past and in the present (“I’m looking at two suns existing simultaneously. One in the water, the other on top of the hill.”). The tragedy that created unrest in the forest. The tragedy that seeped agony and pain even into the next iteration of their souls. Afterall, “love never stops.” Even when it looks still. It’s also the tragedy that the old man in the forest comments about it being a sad thought that when he passed, no one would be left to remember those graves on top of the hill. The tragedy of the young father-to-be killed in a hunting accident. And that of the young mother who (presumably) died shortly after giving birth to their son.

The son that the old crone, an old entity who sees not through her eyes but through her mystical connection to the forest that her life is so intrinsically tied to (honestly, she reminds of Mother Willow from the Pocahontas cartoon), carried through the tunnel into the near past. The son who is adopted by the old man telling the story in the forest, and who is given the name Rin. The son who found his way into a familial dynamic with the reincarnated souls of his parents.

And when the 3 should-have-been family members finally reunited and found themselves under the old and cleansing Juniper tree that they have all been drawn to throughout the story, that’s when “vision” is born. Or, the final merging of these 2 parallel timelines. And we see the spirit of the young father-to-be, smiling at what is finally possible, and walking off into the woods – his soul finally able to move on.

And what better method of rebirth, than that of fire – which has been intrinsically related to rebirth in both worldwide mythologies and in nature. And fueled by the wind that is Aki, who guided all the key players into making it possible.

And I think what's great about this film, is that this is all just one interpretation. But they all have the potential to deeply move a viewer. For instance, a fellow reviewer who analyzes the story through a lens that does not include reincarnation.

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BITTER SWEET

The Sweet (LIKES):
Cinematography, locations, colour pallet, all visually pleasing.
The nostalgia with the VCR tapes, camcorder, etc. was fun.
Well chosen cast. Good chemistry between Kim Too Jung, Byeon Woo Seok and Park Jung Woo, as the three main leads. Acting was okay.
Production: Finally a South Korean movie that uses a film stabilizer for the most part, (still some shaky moments though)!
I liked the ending, but

The Bitter (DISLIKES):
WRITING: Wish this was a series instead of a movie, so that there was more back story for the main characters, more character growth and better impact of certain moments in the story. Too many loopholes in the plot, unexplained/unresolved moments. This was the usual teen drama. Timing of showing the leads as high school, university and adults, was off and very abrupt. Script was lacking too.

OVERALL:
I didn’t mind the ending, but it seemed a cheap way to get a reaction from the viewers, due to the under developed story. It’s an easy watch, with not too much angst. I recommend it for the audience it was made for (teens). And I would watch it again.

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"Tragedy in life starts with the bondage of parent and child"

The Only Son is considered director Ozu's first talkie. Even with the spoken dialogue he still leaves space and silence to contemplate his characters' actions and conflicts. Classically Ozu, he studies the relationship between a parent and grown child. Instead of the wealthier families of some of his later films, this widow and child are living in poverty. In this film he also has the son and mother begin to define what success means to them and the emotional cost of failure.

The story begins in 1923 in rural Japan. The mother works at a silk factory doing rigorous physical labor. Her son wants to continue his education, an education she can't afford. His teacher who is preparing to leave for Tokyo stops by the house congratulating the surprised mother on allowing him to go to high school as the son had told him she'd agreed to it. Ultimately, she decides to make whatever sacrifices she must for him to have a better chance in life. The last thing he tells her is that he will become a great man.

The story jumps ahead to 1935 with the mother missing her son and deciding to go visit him in Tokyo. Mother and son have not seen each other in years and seem happy to be together again. The son has a surprise for his mother, he is married and has an infant son. He also is working as a night school geometry teacher and living in a small house in view of the garbage incinerator smokestacks. This brings about the critical theme of the film. The son is ashamed of his job and lifestyle after the sacrifices his mother made for him. The mother is disappointed that he seems to have given up on attaining a better life. Much like in Tokyo Chorus, 1930's Tokyo is portrayed as the great dream destroyer.

Later in the film, the son helps a neighbor in such a way, that the mother beams at him with pride. He may not have become the great man she'd hoped for, but he had become a good man with a good wife. For her, this is enough to ease her worries about him. This is success in her eyes.

Ozu uses many of the techniques and compositions that will define his later work. Filming from the mat, even when in a car is in place. His ubiquitous teapot takes center stage in many scenes. As always, every prop, every angle is thoughtfully and creatively brought together to be aesthetically pleasing and to help tell the story. At one point after an emotional confrontation between mother and son, with his wife sobbing in the background, Ozu lingers on a shot of a painting on a wall near a window and holds that shot for almost a minute, as night turns to day. Almost as if the raw emotions of his characters needed time to be processed by them and us.

Tokyo was the great soul crusher, and during this time the depression had finally caught up with Japan, making work hard to come by. The son's teacher had to become a cook in a small restaurant. The teacher was played by Ozu regular Ryu Chishu, someone you could always count on to bring a character quietly to life. Lida Choko conveyed the mother longing to see her son, happy to be in his presence, and also discouraged at his negative resolution perfectly. Himori Shinichi felt like the weaker acting link. He spent much of his time smiling and gave no inkling of his character's desperate emotions for most of the film.

Interestingly Ozu had the mother and son go to the movies and watch a popular German talkie. Rather lengthy clips of the film were shown. The son's house also had some posters from German movies. Though imminently Japanese, the great director was also open to influence from foreign films.

The German film was one of the only outings we see that the son took his mother on as he spent most of their money trying to show her Tokyo. Unlike so many of the ungrateful male characters in older movies, ones women sacrificed everything for, this son, despite the financial hardship, wants his mother to have a special time. He wants to make her sacrifice worthwhile and up until then had felt he'd completely failed. Even with hardships, disappointments, and setbacks, the film had a warmth and gentle humanity to it. Life wasn't easy, but the film showed the value of family and friendship, of looking out for each other.

As so often happens in Ozu's films, the parent ends up alone. The mother may have been alone, but after seeing the man her son had become could find acceptance in her trials and life. The son, reinvigorated from his mother's belief in him, sat aside his nihilistic acceptance to once again hope. This quiet film was realistic and engaging on many levels. Easily one of my favorite Ozu films.

10/24/22

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Largely set in the bar of ARTnSHELTER (which has since been closed, from what I've read), this is a great story of deafness, coming out, and acceptance.

In it, we see a story told entirely through sign language from actors and crew belonging to and familiar with the community. This was actually the first project from the director where they utilized sound, and they did so very well. For instance, the audible sounds that deaf individuals may let off while talking to each other. I know that this is a subject that's brought up a lot in the deaf community in reference to interactions with hearing people. The film also utilized scene-fitting speechless ambient music in the background which definitely helped me, as a hearing individual, focus on the film better than if it was pure silence.

In it, we see the development of concerns about coming out after a bad first coming out experience, especially in the context of how small the deaf community is in some areas. We see a diversity of rounded LGBTQ rep through our main and support characters (bisexual, gay, lesbian, trans ftm, and trans mtf) as they create a safe haven for each other through the sharing of their stories and understanding. In fact, Ayumi even explicitly draws a diagram showing how gender, sex, and sexuality are all independent spectrums of identity.

The acting was also great. Normally, I will tear up upon hearing someone's voice cracking. But Hana's facial expressions were so detailed and spot-on that I found myself tearing up even without the audio input that normally contributes. However, while I was completely sold on the characters as individuals, I didn't think that the 2 FLs had romantic chemistry. They felt more like really close friends. They lacked the glances between each other that would have really sold their emotional investment to each other.

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Well, that was very... Japanese. And as much as I looked forward to this movie - I own the manga in its entirety and I watched and loved the anime - I simply didn't like it. Why?

For one, the music was very jarring. Terribly loud, electronic, very... 2001: A Space Odyssey like with the whole droning thing etc. After a while, it made my eye twitch. I really hated it.

Also, I felt like I was actually watching a theater performance. It was mostly filmed in a studio, among very obvious set pieces - the shop didn't even look like a real place - and the performances themselves were so overwrought, especially by the villains. It felt very "even the viewers in the last row need to see I'm batcrap insane, watch me cackle." Yeah.

The only saving grace? Watanuki and Doumeki. This kind of a relationship was what I wanted from the manga and the anime and the movie actually delivered. So brownie points for that.

But... yeah. This? Not my cuppa. Maybe someone who is really into artsy stuff will love it but not me.

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I tried to like this movie. I really did. I had high hopes for it but when I tell you it is BORING, I mean it is comatose boring.

The movie had a ton of potential but they CRAWLED through everything, what should have been a hour movie was stretched into nearly 2 hours. Now, if you like slow burn and love the "build", then this might be a great movie for you. Sadly, for me, it wasn't. I love my stuff fast paced. This was so slow that when things finally did start happening, I didn't care and was half asleep.

I care nothing for the characters. I can't even tell you any of their names. Lol which is sad.

Though I will say it shows a lot of what I'm sure idols go through with the companies and it makes me sick. But it's really no secret. Smh.

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The Heartbreak of Nostalgia

This has all the markers of a cliche romance coming-of-age story, but they managed to pull every emotion out of me while doing it.

The chemistry between the main leads was 100% there and I absolutely loved the warm and fun relationship that they had; it truly felt like seeing two high schoolers falling in love, with all the silly things and stressful decisions that usually come with experiencing love at that age, for the first time.

The ending is a little vague and leaves some open questions, but it really doesn't bother me that much when I think about the construction and perspective of the movie; either way I didn't expect it to hit this film to hit this hard but it did and I think it'll go down as one of my favorites.

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what happened?

how do you ruin a good romcom movie? by attempting to crush viewers' hearts with an unexplained twist.

the start was strong and had a good buildup to the chemistry between bora and woonho. with a decent cast, on point aesthetics and amazing sismance, i was ultimately hooked at first. the romantic scenes had me yelling to the void at how i wish i could revoke my 'i'm single' card. even though the camera was a bit shaky in some scenes, i was able to push through and say, "this is definitely a 9. without a doubt"

but..... the ending....

the thing is i have no problem if they made this a hundred times more angsty and make a main character's death more tragic than my whole life is right now. i'm into that shit. the PROBLEM is how the movie felt like a half-baked lasagna. it didn't even feel like an open ending. we just know "oh, they're dead" that's it.

cause of death: unknown? does hyunjin know? what happened?

instead of me crying over this character i once loved, i'm clouded with curiosity. the ending took away my attachment to how sad the death of this character is. in my opinion, there could've been a better way to end this movie without leaving the viewers with a question mark on their head.

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Breathtaking Cinematography!

The best thing that caught my eyes in this movie is the beautiful cinematography and colors, my eyes love them!

Overall I found the movie quite fast paced and entertaining, I'm fine with the cast and action, and the CGI is quite good too considering this was released 5 years ago from when I write this. I have no problem understanding the plot but it could be because I still remember the plot of the anime well.

There were some difference from the anime's plot and some characters from the first version anime that I watched were excluded, but the movie was still able to retain the main premise and major characters were intact.

I'm glad Nina and Hughes' parts were included, and I still shed tears for Nina, but somehow Hughes' demise did not affect me as greatly as the anime version.

In conclusion the movie was quite enjoyable for me.

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With a sword, that boy cuts the rope, dividing this world from the next.

Came across this on Netflix and saw the trailer, it seemed intriguing and glad I got around to seeing the prequel to this popular manga series. I'll keep this review short since this is a well known series. As a warning, it is bloody and ultra violent at times but there were no annoying explicit sex scenes, thank goodness for that.

This was a fascinating watch about an assassin who was used as a part of a revolution to destroy the Shogunate. This drama had beautiful cinematography, historical settings, and costumes. The prequel storyline isn't complicated and had tight plotting so it was easy to follow even for people who are new or not familiar with the franchise. While it has its fair share of blood and a bit of gore, the sword fight scenes were choregraphed very well and there were some scenes were it was almost elegant despite the blood shed. I originally intended to watch this for the action and sword fighting but was rewarded with a lot more. The love story is subtle and stoic. While it is a main part of this prequel arc, it doesn't dominate and allows the other areas of the drama to stand out.

There were some well written scenes with poignant moments such as a philosophical conversation Yukishiro Tomoe has with Himura Kenshin, it questions whether all those murders were worth it for the peace he thinks he is fighting for and the morality he is sacrificing.

Even with the violence and blood shed it was tastefully done and executed.

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Sweet and Sad

This is one of those beautiful doses of nostalgia, a moment in the life of a bunch of teens... Reminding me of my own youth, as I too was born 1983, had a heart condition, and had to leave my loved ones behind to move to different country, crying on a plane... longing...

This movie has an amazing cast, great cinematography and some really good characters. There are a few scenes that annoyed me, but they were properly delt with later on showing a teen with a heart condition as... you know a teen with crushes, wishes and desires beyond a cure... Wanting to stay put so she can get close to her crush... As well as some stuff that others take for granted but teens with heart conditions have to del with. + She actually got to have a scar!

" I need a friend not a nurse"

The flirting in this movie is top notch, and though there are moments when the female lead feels straight out of Disney (especially in the beginning) and I do not agree with all of her decisions. She is pretty cool, bad ass and kind all at the same time without becoming a super hero. The male lead is really sweet in every way possible (almost), playful, kind and listen to this he actually respects women, and seems to grasp the notion of consent before people used the word consent 1999.

The friendships in this movie have their good sides and less good sides, just like most relationships do in real life. They are however really well executed except for some annoying overly high pitched crying here and there, which is why this is a 9 and not a 9,5. There is a a pretty high rate of predictability but also some moments that may surprise you (very few though) .

Level of tears- build up and light fog in the eyes but no full blown snotty crying.
Level of cuteness- High, oh so high...

So if you can handle some pain, go watch this movie. If not save it for a day when you can handle it.

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I WAS NOT PREPARED FOR THIS

From beginning to end, this film was a true masterpiece. If you want to experience a beautiful story filled with authentic feelings of affection and true love then watch this. It evokes nostalgia for items like DVDs and payphones, and the overall melodramatic, nostalgic, dreamy mood only adds to the plot.

Watch it if you want to be left feeling like a complete and utter wreck. Also don't watch it for those same reasons. I just feel the same as I did after completing 2521. It's literally so similar to that with the youthful, coming of age storyline filled with miscommunications and missed opportunities except there's a very big plot twist at the end.

Be warned, there is no happy ending to this story. I'm still not over it. Bo Ra and Woon Ho deserved sooooooo much better.

It's a solid 9/10 for me but I am so mad / confused I want to give it less but it was a really good movie, I think the actors did a really good job portraying these characters and sharing their love story. I was literally up at 3am watching this sobbing for 15 minutes after it ended. This film truly made me feel so many emotions.

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