Reviews

A sad but also heartwarming story about family and live

At some point I thought, how much sad things can happen in a family, isn't it too much here, but if you see it as an approach to show the value of family, humanity and friendship in general it was all okay for me.

The story was well paced, lots of plot twists that keep you entertained for the two hours. While all actors were really nice, I want to give a special credit for Sugisaki Hana, who plays the teenage daughter here. Her acting is so good, so many perfect facial expressions in all the variety of moods she had to cover, just wow, especially for her age. Somebody to check out for her other works for sure.

Definitely a movie that deserves a wider recognition.

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Value of Time

Most of the things in this movie revolved around Ito’s poetry, which I think was a reminder for us to treasure every single moment that we spend while we’re alive. The movie challenges us to ponder on the value of time and how we might choose to spend it after we realize how short and limited it is, another challenge that was delivered throughout the film was how far we would stretch time before we start taking a brave step forward to fulfill our dreams and do what we really want. Both challenges might not be relatable to everyone since they were taken from the perspective of cancer patients, but will surely resonate with most of us now that we are all faced with the ever-present threat of the pandemic, which should make us realize how each second of our life is valuable.

The actress Aikawa had the least exposure among the dominant characters in this movie but she had the most complete development. Ito and Ato’s development could also be considered complete only because they both expired at the end of their individual countdowns. The most heartbreaking part of this movie was [spoiler alert] Dragon’s (Sakamoto) character, although hints were thrown at the beginning of the film, we didn't realize he was also down the path of Ito and Ato’s journey until the last remaining seconds of the movie had been revealed.

Ito’s writing being the central element, led to a heavy emphasis on the relationship between Ito and Ato; the things they did together weren’t as daring (and pointless) as that of Julien and Sophie in Love Me If You Dare, but being both cancer patients, their recklessness were approaching the same level of danger. I am not wishing for this movie to turn into a BL, but I just wish Ato and Dragon’s relationship could have been explored more.

I felt that the music was a bit lacking, I was expecting so much from the final piece and was hoping for a soundtrack that’s worthy of the repeat button, but it turned out only to be so-so. Even the lyrics, which was purportedly Ito’s final writing, was just too literal and shallow, lacking the depth that got us hooked to her writing at the beginning. One more thing I found lacking was the explanation of the “kimochi” formula that was introduced in the story, enough airtime was provided to discuss this matter but the metaphorical translation didn’t hit the bullseye, if the formula has been plotted or visualized as a graph instead, it could have made more sense and more philosophical value could have been dished out, especially when highlighting the asymptotes and the approach to infinity.

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Failed to live up to expectations

In all honesty, I was hyped about this mainly because this is the Mario and Baifern reunion many of us has been waiting for. I am one of those who had Mario as our original Thai actor crush because of the phenomenal Crazy Little Thing Called Love movie.

STORY
My personal preference is that I don't like 'robot and humans fall in love' plot. But I gave this one a chance and kept an open mind about it. The story is promising but the execution was pretty bad. If it wasn't for the CGIs, it would look like a low value movie. The writing is all over the place. It doesn't know what it wants to present. Did it want to be a sci-fi, romance or comedy? It wanted to show all of those but fell short.

ACTING
If it wasn't for the casting, I would've dropped it at 15 minutes into the movie. Both leads are already established actors, it's just a pity they had to make do of a script like this. All the other side actors look like caricatures in their acting. Mario and Baifern still had that chemistry. Baifern is a chemistry generator but I think she still has the best chemistry with Mario because look at all their cute moments together.

REWATCH VALUE
Not a rewatch material at all. Maybe just watch the leads' cute scenes and chemistry in movie cuts in youtube and pretend it's from a good movie.

P.S. I gave it an extra point for the sentimental value of the Mario-Baifern reunion. They should've just given us the sequel we were waiting and not this movie. But oh well..

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Not Even Close to 50 Shades

Almost everyone is saying this is an intro to 50 shades. I beg to differ. 50 Shades is cringed and trying hard to be sexy, Love and Leashes have more of the story and more of just vanilla. The storyline is not unique, but the romance of the two leads was pretty good. At first, I don't see their chemistry but as the story progress, it starts to click.

Other's say it's crazy how Korea is making this kind of movie now. It's laughable cause if others do their research, Korea has produced crazier sexy movies than this.

The storyline's not bad. It actually tackles how society ostracized people whose fondness is BDSM. If you think about it deeply, they criticize them, shunned them and the topic itself is taboo. At some point, the major takeaway here is love is love, and it doesn't matter how you express your love as long as you don't harm people.

This is also Seo Hyun's first sexy movie, I think it made a major discussion in the kpop world. She did great though. She's a good actor and gave justice to her character. Same with Jun, I haven't seen him act before, but judging from this, he is a very effective actor.

It's not a must-watch, but it's a good light-hearted movie and great for "literal" Netflix and chill.

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i love this movie!!! it doesn't have any major plot twist or whatever. this is rather a not so light yet not so heavy kind of movie that is good to watch with the family! there are lots of funny scenes and you might feel a lot of second hand embarrassment from how stupid the characters are but it's good and kinda satisfying. the casts are great too! i love takumi and ito kentaro as well as kodai asaka. you can also get moral lessons from this movie which is very typical for a japanese movie or series. i love the cinematography and the location, it really gives off homey vibes and makes me want to live there too. all in all, this movie is great! not the best but it's great and i'll definitely rewatch this when i have free time

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The Weight of Her is a short film from nearly 20 years ago that I stumbled across. I truly hope that attitudes have changed about girls and women and their appearances since this was made.

The story follows a slightly overweight high school girl who is constantly judged for her weight not only by other students but by the teachers as well. Her friend who took diet pills and lost weight was praised. She, however, was constantly criticized and told she'd never find a job or a man because she weighs over 50 kg.

The girls are weighed in class as the male teacher makes derogatory comments about them. At one point when a very overweight male teacher derides the FL for weighing too much she calls him on it. He tells her it doesn't matter how men look, women are the ones with the problem.

Fat shaming, shaming for double-eyelids, all appearance related bombs lodged at young women, destroying their self-esteem and causing them to do unhealthy things to try and be ultra-slim. Instead of building them up, and training them to be competent and confident, they are told their self-worth is in how they look and how much they weigh. The focus was never on teaching them to be healthy in body and mind, and to develop their skills so that they would be able to find a good job because they were qualified, not because they were thin and pretty.

I found this very difficult to watch because defining women by their looks and size is destructive and the society loses out on creative, intelligent people in the work force simply because they aren't attractive enough for the men who hire them.

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Swing and a Miss

Overall: there was a good idea a the core, how a boy might struggle at school with two gay dads, but it had a poor execution

Content Warnings: held against will, looked up skirt - pulled down pants, pervy guy

What I Liked
- the trumpet playing
- the boy said that they should apologize to the girl

Room For Improvement
- the trumpet player was more immature than the child! Who just leaves their child at a dock? Pulling down his pants was terrible. The dad felt stereotypical and I wish they would haven't gone that direction. He could have worn lipstick/nails and been an awesome parent of a child who is struggling at school due to bullying. Instead they made him look immature and silly.
- the first sexual assault to that girl was bad but then they threw in another attempted one??? To show that the boy was now a hero? It was an odd way to show character development.

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Don't start nothin', won't be nothin'!

If Godzilla is King of the Kaiju, Mothra is the Queen. Lighter in tone than Godzilla (1954), yet still with a message of caring for the Earth and cooperation, Mothra carved out her own story.

The synopsis tells most of the story. An unscrupulous relic plunderer kidnapped the Shobijin after an expedition to an island in a nuclear testing zone. The tiny twins had been befriended on their island by a reporter and a linguist who attempted to come to their aid in Tokyo. The Shobijin tried to warn them that Mothra would be coming for them and anyone in her way would be in great danger. Their pleading left the dastardly villain unaffected only causing him to double down on his efforts to keep the fairy priestesses to himself for his own profit.

Unlike Godzilla, who came to town obliterating buildings for seemingly no reason, Mothra was on a rescue mission. She arrived in her caterpillar form before transforming into her beautiful self. Tokyo and a major city in Rolisica (an amalgam of Russia and the US) took the brunt of her actions as she searched for her besties.

Mothra had one of the strongest casts in Kaiju filmdom. It's a good thing there was a strong cast as Mothra doesn't show up until over halfway through the movie. Koizumi Hiroshi who appeared in many Godzilla movies played the good-hearted linguist Dr. Chujo Shinichi. Kagawa Kyoko, from Tokyo Story, was the fearless photographer who worked with intrepid reporter, Bulldog, well played by Frankie Sakai. Hirata Akihiko from the original Godzilla made a welcome appearance. Shimura Takashi who starred in several Kurosawa movies, was the cranky news boss. Finally, the idols from their time, The Peanuts, twin sisters Emi and Yumi, brought the kind fairies to life. Their song "Mosura" woke their giant protector telepathically calling her to them.

Though there was destruction of buildings and cars, and the requisite helicopter blowing up, unlike in Godzilla, humans are not shown being killed. Mothra's story is gentler for a mass destruction movie as much of an oxymoron as that is. Song and dance numbers, a child looking to protect the Shobijin, and a big, beautiful monster made this movie more kid friendly, a direction Toho would continue to take the movies in, especially the Mothra movies as she evolved into a heroine.

The miniatures and Mothra were obvious toys, some more intricate and carefully created than others, but this was 1961 and viewers' imaginations played a big role in the success of these movies. I enjoyed Mosura, a somewhat slow-paced monster movie about a giant Moth stopping at nothing to save her friends.

21 February 2022

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Finding Yourself

Aristocrats tells the story of two women from different social classes, family backgrounds, and outlook on life who embark on a journey of self-discovery and finding their place in the world, amidst the constraints of familial expectations, gender discrimination, class system and traditional values that are deeply ingrained in Japanese society, particularly amongst the upper class or, in the context of the film, the aristocrats.

Based on the novel Ano Ko wa Kizoku by award-winning author and essayist Mariko Yamauchi, which was serialised in the monthly magazine Syosetsu Subaru in 2015 and published as a book in 2016. Yukiko Sode, who is a notable indie-film director, wrote the screenplay adaptation and directed the film. Yasuyuki Sasaki serves as cinematographer while Takuma Watanabe composed the original score. Aristocrats had its world premiere at the 33rd Tokyo International Film Festival in 2021.

What I Appreciated

The character-driven and female-centric narrative is told from the perspectives of the two women, Haibara Hanako and Tokioka Miki, structured in a converging parallel plot format. Certain flashback sequences are involved but, for the most part, a linear storytelling approach is adopted which preserves the overall cohesion and coherence of the multiple POVs. A number of themes concerning conservative social constructs, narrow mindsets and stereotypes are manifested while the concepts of marriage, friendship and love are also explored to a certain extent.

Running at just over 2 hours, this film covers quite an extensive scope but gives the impression of taking its time to allow the various elements to breathe and gradually sink in. Nothing ever feels rushed or abrupt as the tempo of the storytelling remains delicately poised all throughout. This aspect is complemented by the equally subtle cinematography technique that renders a series of exquisitely framed moments. A more subdued colour grading is employed with a slight textured effect that filters the warmer colour palettes. The gently imbued orchestral accompaniment that induces an introspective mood provides the finishing touches to the end product - a motion picture that showcases visual aesthetics and technical artistry.

Where the production truly shines lies in the exceptional cast performances, particularly that of the main leads. Kadowaki Mugi and Mizuhara Kiko are hugely impressive in their respective portrayals of Haibara Hanako and Tokioka Miki. Understatedly emotive and compellingly nuanced, these two fine actresses certainly possess the gravitas to utterly enliven the entire film with their commanding screen presence. My only qualm is that I wished both had more scenes together.

Final Thoughts

Aristocrats, at its core, represents an in-depth character study of the internal struggles of two young women against the backdrop of a deeply traditional society amidst the hustle-and-bustle of cosmopolitan Tokyo. It is bittersweet yet inspiring and the story eventually ends on a high note which provides a fitting closure where both leads finally discover their true worth and find their place in the world. This has been a truly evocative viewing experience.

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Sweet n´Slow...

This was such a slow paced, but sweet lesson about love, and the obstacles involved in wanting to change the past... Did I, who am used to watching dramas where it takes like 16 hours for people to get together just call a movie slow paced, yes I did... I really did...

However slow as it may be it does come with an interesting lesson in connecting the past with the present without to many effects of interesting distractions.

The main coupe is mature, sweet and calm inspire of this very odd situation and time complication they seem to be in. there are a few interesting twist too but nothing really exiting to watch on screen but the story is good so I am sure the novel it was adapted from is better then the movie.

To be clear, the acting was good, the characters were lovable, and the story interesting it just lacks that extra spark and pace one would expect from a movie... So it was good but maybe not so entertaining...

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Homage to film making

Whoever liked the movie 13 Assassins from 2010 or the original from 1963 will also like this one even if it’s something completely different. But not only in respect to the Samurai theme, to me it works as a kind of homage to cinema and film making in general.

The enthusiastic teen protagonists pay a detailed attention to those Samurai action scenes and I think it covers the best broom-sword-wanna-be-fight in cinematic history 😉

That time machine thingy is a bit weird, but if one can see it as critique to the recent short-clip-tiktok-crap, why not…just it seems men have long hair again in the future 😊

Enjoyable summer vibe movie, good and fun actors all over. I liked how the rivals come together finally for their cinematic work for the higher goal. And yep, some small romance there also, while not being the main focus.

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The Futuristic Vampire Gang Thriller, Which Failed To Deliver An Impactful Bite…

At the heightened craze of vampires flicks and blazing gun thrillers, notorious 1990s " pink film" co-screenwriter and director Takahisa Zeze decided to cash in both genres with ‘ Moonchild’ (2003); a 2 hour trope-worthy film filled with an intriguing premise and characters , as well an array of questionable acting performances and narrative execution.

The movie is set in an alternative timeline where in the year 2014, Japan begins to suffer from economic collapse. As a consequence, myriads of Japanese citizens emigrate to mainland China in order to escape economic ruin.

Set against the backdrop of the fictional ‘ melting pot’ Chinese town of Mallepa, the main narrative focuses upon a trio of orphaned boys. Sho ( Kanata Hongō- ‘ The Prince Of Tennis’, ‘ Nana 2’ and ‘ Himitsu no Hanazono’) is the head of the group, whilst his younger brother Shinji and Toshi are fellow members.

Shinji ends up landing the group in hot water when he steals a briefcase filled with money from a notorious hood gang. Fortunately, Shinji, Sho and Toshi are protected by the mysterious vagrant and later-revealed vampire Kei ( L'Arc-en-Ciel and Vamps’ vocalist Hyde- ‘ Last Quarter of the Moon’).

A time-skip several years into the future reveals Sho to be in his early twenties ( idol-actor and screenwriter Gackt- ‘ Tonde Saitama’, ‘ Sengoku Basara’ and ‘ Time Spiral’). Acting as the leader for his own small gang consisting of Toshi ( Yamamoto Taro- ‘ Battle Royale’, ‘ Secret Love’) and Kei.

However Sho ends up running into trouble along the way when he becomes acquainted with Song ( Wang Leehom - ‘ Love In Disguise’, ‘ Forever Young’) and his sister Yi-Che ( Zeny Kwok).

Whilst Sho ends up struggling between his growing feelings for Yi-Che, rising tensions between old friends and betrayals, Kei begins to struggle against trying to resist his bloodlust and vampiric urges also …

Co-written by director Takahisa Zeze, main actor Gackt and Kishu Izuchi, ‘ Moon Child’ attempted to combine the adrenal-infused thrill of shootout movies, sci-fi futuristic worlds, vampiric-horror flicks and pining romance tales in a movie which attempting to appease to everyone, often failed to deliver a cohesive narrative along the way.

Undeniably there are intriguing elements surrounding ‘ Moon Child’ behind the over-the-top makeup and idol clothing aesthetics of Gackt and Hyde onscreen.

Patchy elements surrounding Kei’s creator vampiric Luka ( Kishu Izuchi) were intriguing, the subtext and evident messaging towards an emerging Pan -Asian society ( particularly enforcing a timeless allegory towards the rise, virtues and flaws of fusion cultures, immigration and poverty in other countries) and the reiteration on the horrors of violence are prominent in parts of ‘ Moon Child’.

On the other hand ‘ Moon Child’ and its array of gun-wielding chic gangsters occupying the periphery of the storyline were often absent of cause, sentience and personal drive.

Sho’s seemingly " burning" feelings for main love interest and doe-eyed Yi-Che were tepid to say the least. Aside from some hinted causes of physical attraction, it seemed ironic that Gackt’s onscreen chemistry with costar Hyde was arguably more passionate than his character’s ” soulmate" and costar Zeny Kwok’s onscreen persona. (Often leading to a somewhat unintentional homoerotic subtext behind Kei and Sho’s interactions. Ironically, this relationship probably would’ve been more dynamic than the established lukewarm chemistry between Yi-Che and Sho.)

As suggested, Song is one of the main antagonistic forces in the series. However rather than being a merciless force to be reckoned with or possessing an ineffable charismatic charm for audiences to make him memorable, Song possessed only one quality; to act as a threat and then fizzle out as quickly as he’d appeared onscreen.

Of course Song isn’t the main focus of the narrative. However considering his role in later events of the storyline as well as the notable absence of foreshadowing or drawing attention for viewers towards his onscreen presence, Song was a notably generic antagonist due to his anti-climactic exit by the latter-half of the movie.

The acting performances of the series are admittedly a mixed-bag. It’s wrong to make out these performances were "dire" or entirely "egregious " in the long-run, but it could often become a grating experience for viewers to witness inconsistent line deliverances and acting performances onscreen.

As for the challenge of pacing, ‘ Moon Child’ could often misstep its execution- cramming multiple genres, storylines, constant time-skips and shifts even into a 120 minute film could often feel somewhat overblown. Whilst the narrative was able to attain a certain entertaining edge from
subverting it’s tedious opening to a pacy and adrenal-infused storyline, Zeze rarely placed emphasis upon the art of " less is more".

As a consequence rather than reducing the movie’s length or themes in order to subtly focus upon a limited yet insightful scope of plot and characters, ‘ Moon Child’ became entrapped in its own self-made Gordian knot of cutout cliches, archetypes and incoherent plot logic from beginning to end.

The cinematography of ‘ Moon Child’ under Zeze’s directing reigns is admittedly an odd accumulation of amateurish shaky angles and shots during epic fight sequences, as well as some surprisingly stunning and impactful symbols placing emphasis upon the old cliche of cyclical narrative symbolism.

‘ Moon Child’ is a classic reflection of the culture of throwaway 2000s productions. Whilst Zeze’s move could be entertaining in parts with a particularly bittersweet ending , ‘ Moon Child’ often felt as though it bit off more than it could chew at times. Choppy execution, inconsistent pacing alongside a potentially intriguing premise with a multitude of loose and messy plot ends rarely helped viewers to feel connected or involved with ‘ Moon Child’’s world building. The acting rarely possessed solid deliverance throughout and in between over dramatic line deliverances and dialogue, the generic array of characters rarely left an everlasting impression for audiences either. Overall whilst ‘ Moon Child’ isn’t a bad watch, the movie is easily overshadowed by its lacking definitive qualities also.

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Relentless video game

I'm a RUYI'S ROYAL LOVE IN THE PALACE fan and so Zhou Xun brought me here. I predicted she's be a bait and switch -- and she was -- but it was nice to see another RUYI actor in the lead.

To me this film felt like a video game staged for the big screen. The quest was a video game quest, the actions the stuff of video game players. It didn't feel like real people at all -- which great diminishes a work like this. The story was so busy with plot the characters were nearly irrelevant.

I fear this film is for younger generations who cannot stay awake if two characters speak quietly in a room. That said it is an impressive spectacle. But I had to pause it several times and go take a mental break. If you have a mild headache this piece will turn it into a migraine with 20 minutes.

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This was once again... well, something. Definitely something. I guess the whole Gintama concept is an acquired taste but I have to admit that the humor isn't for me. I only watched Yoshizawa Ryo's scenes and everything else I whooshed through at 3x speed. It was simply too cringey.

But Yoshizawa Ryo's Okita Sougo was... wow. He was amazing here. And his fight with the traitors was just about perfect, especially once Kagura joined in. The way they fought side by side and around each other like they were used to it, so perfectly in sync. That was so cool!

I must say I didn't recognize Miura Haruma - *heart-clench again* - as Ito. True, I've only seen one drama of his so far but I really didn't recognize him. He looked so different, wow.

To sum it up, movie #2 was miles better than #1, mainly because of the much bigger involvement of the Shinsengumi in general and of Sougo in particular. Still, I'm not sure I'll ever re-watch it, bar Ryo's scenes, of course. Those are really worth re-watching!

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