Reviews

Far from perfect and yet more than enough

I sometimes feel like I have mastered the art of being pretentious. I love media analysis, I love picking stories apart and being overly critical and I love finding long, overly-complicated ways to describe why something is supposedly objectively good or bad. But every now and then I come across a piece of media that I just love beyond rationality. That I like more than I feel like I should be technically allowed to. Sometimes, a story can just speak to us, even if it’s objectively flawed.
Well, Upcoming Summer is that film for me.
I didn’t expect much of this film. Until now, no Chinese drama or movie had won me over. I was under the wrong impression, even though I had branched out since discovering K-dramas and had, since then found several Thai, Taiwanese, Pinoy and Japanese shows that I loved, that Chinese cinema simply wasn’t for me. But the trailer of Upcoming summer looked charming enough, that I was willing o give it a chance.
And I’m so happy I did.

There are a few things about this movie that I just find objectively good. For starters, the acting is really strong. Most actors in the C-dramas I had watched in the past, were guilty of over-acting and even though I can get the occasional joy out of watching an actor go way-overboard, it still makes me cringe. But I felt like all the performances here, were more than solid. Noone did too much or too little, the people in Upcoming Summer really just felt like people. The male lead had so much charisma, that even I blushed on several occasion. But I especially lost my heart to our female protagonist, who was childish and strong-willed but in no way frustrating or irritating to watch She really captured that stubbornness that comes with being a young adult without being just a tiny bit unlikable. The chemistry of the two lead actors was absolutely off the charts. All of their interactions felt natural and I couldn’t stop smiling, every single time they were on screen together. But the bond between mother and daughter also stood out to me. What can I say, I just bought all of this. Not one second was I taken out of the story. I believed in the characters, believed in their dreams, hardships and relationships and I sincerely loved them and wanted the best for them.
But the strong performances can also be traced back to the script and especially the dialogue. When I saw the “Fake Dating”-tag on this film, before watching it, I cringed. I know many people love the whole “two characters pretending to go out until they fall in love”-thing, I usually just prefer more maturity in my coming-of-age-stories and the trope is just a tad too Wattpad-fanfiction-y for me. I thought that I was in for another cliché love story with a contrived premise. But this film is everything but. For starters, Upcoming Summer is in no way a romance-movie, it’s a story about friendship and most of all, a story about growing up. And surprisingly enough, I thought Upcoming Summer explored that topic in a strikingly mature and again, very believable way. The dialogue felt deep and poignant but never preachy or unnatural. At no point did it feel like the author was directly talking to the audience. Instead, everything that was said, felt like the natural conclusions to the circumstances our cast was put in. We watched our characters grow as they faced the struggles of adolescence. The film didn’t need to go over the top, didn’t need dark, overly complicated backstories or villains, the pain of your first love, the pain of growing up, was more enough for this to feel impactful.
The cinematography also was great. God is this movie visually stimulating. I wondered at some points if Upcoming Summer wasn’t doing a bit too much, if it wasn’t just a tad too shiny, too grand, if it was just beautiful for the sake of being beautiful, but in the end, it just worked for me. Not a single shot felt flat, every composition conveyed emotion and it was more than easy on the eyes, I really liked the way this was cut as well. I liked all the montages, none of them felt overly long or like a waste of time and the scene at the music festival especially stood out to me in terms of cutting.
The OST is my least favorite part about this film, but I mostly didn’t mind it. I get that they obviously had to include electronic music since that’s part of the premise and some tracks I did sincerely like, but The Chainsmokers just always sound hollow and commercial to me, no matter where they are. This might be a matter of personal preference though.

I can imagine that the ending is a bit controversial. For me, it came too soon, but I could probably watch Chen Chen and Zheng Yu Xing just hanging out and having fun forever. Still, Upcoming Summer left too many threads untied for my taste. For me, the last 10 minutes definitely came out of left field. But I am not mad at the conclusions this story arrives at, even if they broke my heart a bit.
If I had one tiny bit of criticism: The TikTok product placement got a bit too much for me. I get it, sometimes you gotta do these things to fund your film. Still, that was like the only thing that kind of irritated me because it was just so obviously paid for. But as I said, I understand that sometimes as a filmmaker you don’t have much of a choice in this.
The teacher and her meddling in the leads’ relationship were also just a tad too much for me to feel entirely natural. That being said, I’m a white girl that went to a European school, I have no idea how involved Chinese teachers really are and if they would ever behave similarly, so maybe this comes down to cultural differences.

I sincerely love this film. It touched my heart in a way I didn’t see coming. But I am also scared that someone might watch this based on my recommendation only to realize, that it wasn’t nearly as good as I made it out to be. I know it isn’t, okay. In no way is Upcoming Summer groundbreaking or a perfect piece of media. But weirdly enough, this still was the YA movie of the year to me. For two hours I shed my overly-critical persona and just allowed myself to be touched by what I saw. I felt the pain of our protagonist as she, for the first time, discovers that not all love-stories have a happy ending, but that in no way diminishes their significance, that love is more than just romance, that our parents are also just humans. That growing up is the scariest challenge we face in life. Maybe art is less about what the creator puts into it, and more about what the audience gets out of it. I guess some stories just stay with us, no matter how objectively good or bad they are.
Upcoming Summer certainly will.

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Beautiful and Realistic.

I directly began the director's cut without watching the drama and here are a few if my jumbled thoughts. This movie is better to be "felt" than read as words don't serve justice to the experience of witnessing Akira and Yuki's journey.

☆ With a very less crowded cast, Life Sejou No Bokora brings out the beautiful chemistry between Yuki and Akira. We spent 80% of the story with them. Each step of their journey is catalogued smoothly. The time skips were spot on. Not to mention, the cast including the few supporting characters delivered excellent performances.

☆ It brought out issues about parents' expectations about their children and the society's view on what's considered normal. I'm one of the few who dares to go against the tide and seeing such a portrayal was satisfying. I will strive to be like Akira's older sister.

☆ I particularly loved how the lead actors brought their characters to life. Pretty sure I won't be forgetting Yuki's radiant smile anymore. I liked the internal conflicts of Akira. (There were several scenes involving the sun and light that were beautifully shot with the two of them.)

☆ Despite all that, there was a moment that I almost came to dislike a character. The pacing after around an hour seemed really quick. The low rewatch score is cause I almost never rewatch movies.

All in all, Japan has an uncanny talent in making very simple productions appear fulfilling. And this is one of the best simple and heartwarming stories I've watched. My review sucks, but I'd suggest that you dive directly into the movie without hesitation!

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Masterpiece by Oshima Nagisa

The thirst is real. Is this movie pornographic or art? I feel like it’s a touch of sex and art. Truly an amazing piece of art by Oshima Nagisa. The concept of senses in this movie, that is sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch, everything was represented so well. Excellent acting by Eiko Matsuda and Tatsuya Fuji, these two capture the burning passion and struggles. However, I feel the character could have had more depth. A lot of people are gonna say it’s boring and disgusting but trust me, It’s so real. I loved it so much. There is so much realism. Lust turning into violation, imperialism, rapes, and the women during the imperial period. The ending was just a wow.

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It’s a whirlwind of emotions.

It’s been a real long time since I’ve watched a movie so heartbreaking, so bittersweet, and funny. It really is whirlwind emotions that one hopes to experience and prays to avoid. It has its absurd moments, comical moments, happy moments, sad moments, and everything in between. This movie ebbs and flows like life. Even a week after watching this movie, a song comes on that jogs up the last scene, and I fall back into the story, the characters, and I’m lost to those feelings again.

I know Hwang Jung Min is an incredible actor, but his acting in this movie floored me and showed the depth of his talent. I highly recommend this movie to anyone.

Also, this is the first I’ve written on here, so that is how much I love this movie.

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A little fantasy time-travel story

So this is how it went… it's a little movie of just 28 minutes. Nothing special or amazing here. But this isn't bad either…… Wasn't expecting much as it's so short and then it's not appreciated so much by others too… started watching it with no expectations and it just went medium like that… I loved the twist in middle. Was not expecting something like that would happen at all. I bet no one else could guess that too lol… I had a slight confusion in the beginning with a dialogue and I thought that's just a small error. But who expected it's actually well planned…

This is good in terms of the time-travel theme cause so far at least I haven't seen a concept like that. Ending could have been better maybe (or what I was wishing for lol). Some people may not get this kind of ending tbh. So, it ended little confusingly… a thing that I can't help but notice was that girl's hand in the ending scene. Her hand was so red. Was it because she was nervous in acting or they made it look like that intentionally…

This story could be expanded I guess. This could form the base story for a long 2 hour movie. Maybe there's something like that already. No idea about that…

To conclude ~ Not bad. Give it a try if you're bored or in a mood for a small high school short film… Also, it's available in YouTube already with English Subtitles…

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A good crime thriller which could have been better

Overview : I was wanting to watch this movie for quite sometime. I came across a few clips of the movie and when I saw Lee Sang Yeob in a grey shade, I was really looking forward to watch it. The movie started off well. But it was too dragging. It had great potential and could have been far more better. The cast, acting, music were all on point. But somewhere, I didn’t get the connect. The movie involved a lot of elements like kidnapping, power abuse, violence, injustice etc. It’s a one time watch. If you are into crime thrillers, go for it.

Plus points:

Casting is a big plus for this movie. The politics and the suspense elements were really good. Lee Sang Yeob did an amazing job and he portrayed his role really well. Ma Dong Seok - Woooow he killed it and I loved watching him in this movie. Music was good and it was exactly on point for a crime thriller. A fantastic story with a good screenplay and concept.

Minus points:

It was too dragging and I lost the connect at a point of time. With such a great cast, it had a good potential
which I think was not properly utilised. There were no grand moments, it was like a usual crime thriller. It started off like wooow and ended like booom!

Conclusion:

The movie was neither too bad nor too good. It is watchable. If you are into crime thrillers, go for it!

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I LOVED THIS MOVIE!

Ok so the smut factor was what really drew me in at first. You know when it's your time of the month and you just want to watch something yummy. Welp, I got what I asked for. It was indeed the most bold and erotic BL movie I've watched to date. I loved the explicit scenes. They were exactly what I wanted. Totally unapologetic and so effin raw. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time I was watching the movie. Please watch this alone and with earphones on people! My eyes were literally glued to my phone screen. But what I was totally NOT EXPECTING was the depth of this movie. I was prepared to write this off as one for my spank bank so boy was I surprised to have my mind blown towards the end of the movie after the dark BDSM period. When the tied up guy (can't even remember his dang name, I will hence refer to him as TUG) went after Yoda (his name I remember coz Star Wars LOL) at the beach when Yoda was about to end his life and then TUG grabbed him from behind and said "Give me your life" maaaaaaaaaan that hit me. The parallelism when Yoda said those exact words to him at the beginning when it was TUG who wanted to end his life -- maaaaaan!!! Chills!!! They literally saved each other!!!
And then another smut action ensues this time more softcore. And at the end when both of them had been spent from all the sexing, and TUG asked Yoda "You're still alive?" -- just like what Yoda kept asking TUG when he was all tied up and sexed up in the basement. And then Yoda answers "I'm still alive". WHOOAAAA!!! It was Yoda telling TUG he wants to live again. And thus they have succeeded to give each other their will to live again. OMG!!! Now tell me this wasn't a masterpiece of an effin movie!!! I place this on top of my list. Although if anyone asks, I will deny. HAHAHAHAH just because people will think it's because of the smut. But really it was the smut AND THE PLOT people!!!! Is anybody with me???

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I kissed a girl just to try it.

This crisp, cleverly written coming-of-age movie with a bit of a twist, explores the usual themes of first love, rejection, self-discovery, and accepting your family for who they really are. It is carried by persuasive and heartfelt performances by both Wu Lei and Zhang Zifeng whose restrained, nuanced portrayals convey the confusion of awakening youth and the utter depth of despair of first love and rejection. In this genre, young actors tend to lose my empathy by over-dramatizing and overacting in such angsty moments but these two truly moved me by not doing so. I also appreciate the well-timed light humor that diffuses tense moments and captures the ultimate resilience and optimism of youth.

Zheng Yuxing and Chen Chen couldn't be more different - he is a bit of a rebel, the cool kid with a bit of internet following while she is a good student with bright prospects who unexpectedly flunks out. Thrown together by an outrageous lie, a mutual understanding that becomes a touching, unexpected relationship blossom between them. They embark on a most excellent adventure together as Chen Chen convinces Yuxing he must confront Ming, who is breaking his heart. Instead, they end up facing their feelings for each other and what it means for each of them culminates in an "I kissed a girl just to try it" kiss that says all that needs to be said. The chemistry between both leads is incredible and is exactly as it should be. I can't praise enough how these two young actors effortlessly show us rather than tell us the complex multitude of emotions they are experiencing.

Unfortunately for Yuxing and Chen Chen, there are too heavy consequences for their actions. Once again we see that young people are so much better people and I am left hoping these two stay that way on their long journey ahead. The ending is realistic with the right touch of wistfulness and hope.

So now is the time to confess that I only watched this because I wanted to see my favorite Wu Lei of unforgettable Fei Liu fame's first screen kiss. Needless to say, I got much more than I bargained for. While this movie has received backlash for not being upfront about what it is about, I think that criticism reflects a lack of understanding that that is the whole point. Who is Ming? That is the most irrelevant detail because it changes nothing. Yuxing's emotions, Chen Chen's emotions, our emotions, and our experiences are the same regardless of certain aspects of our identity.

The premise of this movie isn't the most original but the way it communicates its simple message is. And the acting deserves a standing ovation. This is an 8.5 for me with a strong recommendation to watch.

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A very disturbing movie! Do not watch if you get triggered!

This movie had beautiful music and good acting, but that's about where the good stuff ends. This movie seems like it was written for people who think they're allies just because they watch movies about gay people being miserable. Homophobia can be depicted well in film, especially when depicted with nuance, but "Run" almost felt like a warning for gay people, especially in how it depicts homophobic violence. The main character loses everything, and the whole movie ends in anguish and tears. It is not a movie I would suggest to anyone, especially someone who has dealt with fears of what their parents would do when they come out of the closet.

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I watched Hibiki because I missed watching Kitagawa Keiko and saw that the cast are very interesting.

All in all, it’s a very good and enjoyable movie with interesting storyline without a boring minute. The only thing that annoyed me was only the lack of explanation or background about Hibiki’s character. She’s not a normal character at all, but we don’t get any explanation at all. Are we supposed to just accept that she’s a kind of tortured artist with a skewed personality or something? For one, I really was curious about her family. But that aside, you won’t regret watching this movie. The pacing and the plot was good

Now for the actors, this movie was really full of eye candies. Everyone here was beautiful and easy on the eye. The acting was superb. I love the young actors who played Hibiki and Rika, and also it was a nice surprise to see Itagaki Mizuki. I love seeing Kitagawa Keiko in a role where her pretty face isn’t mentioned at all. I don’t think Oguri Shun’s character blend perfectly here, but it’s like a nice little touch.

I didn’t really notice the music, they were more like background music, but they were good enough to build atmosphere needed.

Once again, it’ll be perfect if only they give us backstory of Hibiki’s, and I’m sure it would be an interesting one. But maybe it’s just me :)

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A Compelling Story of Love and Family

If you’re looking for a romance, then look no further. This story will twist your heartstrings and make you hold on to the one you love. It’s a story of love, family, and the possibilities of faith in a promise. It was a beautiful fantasy of love.

The acting was fantastic, with So Ji Sub as Woo Jin, the father, and Kim Ji Hwan as Ji Ho, his son. The two of them brought life to the concept of a single father struggling to raise his son while having issues of his own. Ji Hwan is a great young actor with a bright future. The wife and mother, Im Soo Ah, was portrayed by the amazing Son Ye Jin. She brings light into every drama she’s in, and in this one, she was especially bright.

This is a compelling drama and worth your time to watch.

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There are more deeper meaning than just a Youth film :)

As I wasnt able to watch it on the movies screen, I had the time to watch tons of BTS and interviews after it was first launched and got to know and understand what is the true meaning of this story illustrated by the directors and acting crew.

It is a production made together with the intent of sharing a meaning which perhaps only after you had experienced it (perhaps only after yours 20s/30s then you can look back and understand) but yet the setting and scenes were illustrating what the current generation of high schoolers (16 - 18 YO) are going through. The director had shared before that his initial start to do a movie like this was because inspired by Zifeng who filmed in his previous movie and some parts of the plots was following the hearts of a 30s as he is 30s but he also realised thru his process of working with Zifeng and Wu Lei - the perspective are different and he was willing to listen to them and changed the plot accordingly. Thus it was a real collaboration between a 19 years old (Zhang Zifeng), 21 years old (Wu Lei) and 38 years old (Director) which have a combination of what is happening in the current generation but the future lies in your 20s and 30s when you looked back and realised what had happened was for your future.

Story - a setting between 2 high schoolers who flunk their high school exams which is the most important exam for the students. They both failed because of their choices made in their life for something they believe they wanted to pursue back then at that age. Chen Chen failed the papers because she wanted her parents to remain the same and be with her. Zheng Yu Xing failed the papers because he didn't attend - as he was too upset with his girlfriend breaking up with him and went to find her to ask for a reason. Because of this coincidence, CC had the golden excuse to lie to her parents and ZYX become her accomplice to this lie. A friendship grew and sparkled in the brightest time of their lives (in our high school). A beautiful journey where they are able to share their deepest secrets with each other and form a bond and trust which they both didn't realized until later. Sometimes, in those age, we don't know whether it is love but we know it is someone whom we trusted the most back then. Through the journey, they brave their greatest fear and learnt to face themselves and grow more mature to be responsible for their acts. Facing the punishment not because they are immature, but because they are mature to face themselves. That is the beauty of growing up.

Setting - definitely it is in a setting which is talking about the current generation which has access to iPhones, electronic dance music, parents busy working, Douyin (Tik Tok). It talks about the current generation which has the ability to express themselves thru social media and also through music, and also the essence of being more forth coming in expressing themselves like the way how they have their own version of logics talking to their teachers. The strange - but yet cold and warm relationships within both families are also displayed. Both Chen Chen and Zheng Yu Xing family isn't something out of the norm - it is definitely very realistic but yet something we don't talk about much. Single parents family and also family which are already strained - the struggles which parents also don't talk about much had shown in this movie.

Twist - A lie which was not meant to hurt anyone, but yet it was meant to protect herself. A friend who was willing to burden the lie together because he also wanted her to feel accepted. A lie which was meant to keep another lie hidden but yet when the truth is revealed, all the truth are revealed too.

Moral of this story - like what the ending says - When will the future arrive? If right here, right now - the one you like happen to like you back, then right now, is the future. The symbol of like / love can be simply defined not just as a person be it a boy or a girl. The symbol of like / love can be career, studies, family, brotherhood, sisterhood, friends, lifestyle, a dream and many other desires we have in life. MING in this story was defined as that like / love symbol but can be in many forms. The one I or you like can be a boy, a girl or a lifestyle I look forward in that future - and when that time comes aka the timing matches - my future is here. Chen Chen found her future by doing what she likes - studying and do well & her mother to be happy, as for Zheng Yu Xing, he had desired a lifestyle and career as a DJ - his excitement brightens up every time he talks about DJ-ing - that was the dream he wanted and desired. Sometimes we don't realise that we may thought we like that person but it can be the lifestyle we want like that person instead.

What I really love the most - the extensive EDM event they created - the stage setting, the drones, the lightings, the props and setup and even the soundtracks which they had got it for the movie is epic! And the non-usual youth plot but yet realistic to the point which is happening in the current state of life. Whatever the teacher says, what ZYX does / says or what CC does or says had all happened in my life before so I can relate so well to this movie and know it is realistic. I really glad there is a breakthrough done for the plot - which is then be able to called "Youth Film of the Year".

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"Must Be Love" actually started KathNiel`s ( Kathryn & Daniel) trend of being the King and Queen of breaking movie box office records in Phillipines and took their stardom to another level.This movie is definitely more youth oriented,but still leaves a important message about self-love. Kathryn and Daniel are both TERRIFIC actors and co-stars!Their chemistry is MAGICAL and they always make me swoon.They took the friends-to-lovers trope on a whole another level about the child-hood bestfriends Patchot and Ivan.Patchot is the one who first relizes that she have loved him all along and it will take time for the charming Ivan to realize that his beloved bestfriend always have been his dream girl. But...love indeed makes you blind sometimes.

I absolutely loved watching Liza Soberano on-screen,she looks so beautiful! I also know she starred as the second female lead again in "Got To Believe" which is another KathNiel starrer.So glad she gets the female lead roles now!Again,i adored this movie.It is lovely,funny and so romantic!Absolutely love the dance sequences with Ivan and Patchot-simply magical!

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Go Go Gojira!

Go Go Gojira! As fast and as far away as you can from this ridiculous cut and paste movie!

All Monsters Attack is actually about a young boy who is bullied at school and daydreams very vividly about Monster Island and his "friend" Minilla/Minya, quite possibly my least favorite character in the Godzillaverse and definitely the creepiest looking.

Robbers are on the loose and no one bothers to lock their doors, even when a child is by himself at night because the parents are working. What's the worst that can happen? Yeah, doesn't matter that it was 1969. These robbers are slightly more tame and inept than those in Home Alone, but it was still disturbing.

The little boy takes what he learns from Minilla/Minya from his daydreams to deal with the robbers and later the bullies. Unfortunately, the ending scene undoes all the anti-bullying rhetoric.

The monsters are all in the little boy's imagination and are just cut and pasted from previous movies. Hondo took a bunch of scenes like Godzilla batting a boulder around with Ebirah (the giant lobster) and added the little boy watching. Most of the chopped up scenes were from Son of Godzilla, Ebirah of the Deep, and a little from Destroy All Monsters. There was one new monster, Gabara, in short scenes to show that Minilla needed to stand up to the bully, just as the young boy needed to stand up to his bullies and the robbers. It pains me that this director from Godzilla 1954 had to stoop so low for either commercialism or to cheaply appeal to the little boy crowd. Rumored to have been scheduled to be the last Godzilla movie it made enough money that they would continue to milk that cow for a few more years targeting the younger audience before rebooting the big guy in 1984 leading into the Hesei era.

If you have children around the age of 8 and they are extremely sheltered, they might enjoy this movie. For adults, probably just for completionists.

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