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Sasayaki

Sasayaki / Moonlight Whisperers (ささやき ,1999)
Hindi ko ‘to na-gets. Ewan! Basta ang tingin ko sa movie na ‘to eh weird. Isa pang pumasok sa utak ko eh, “ano ba ang mga kabataan ngayon, kung ano-anong eksperimento ang ginagawa!?” kasi para sa akin, napaka-unlikely na gawin ng mga tipikal na teenagers yung ginawa nila dito sa movie. Pero naisip ko, well, eh movie ‘to eh. Walang basagan ng trip.

Pero siyempre kelangan ko guluhin yung trip ng direktor dito, kasi siyempre movie ‘to eh, kelangan may manood, ha ha!

Tungkol ito sa isang lalaking teenager na may crush sa kanyang kaibigang kasama sa kendo. Pero, hindi lang crush pala ang tingin niya sa babaeng ito. Uh… sabihin na nating may kakaiba siyang fetish, he he. So eventually naging sila nung girl at nadiskubre ng girl ang kakaibang fetish na ‘to, na eventually ay nag-ignite din sa fetish niya. Ahaha, sabi na ang labo eh.

Para sa akin, ang Sasayaki ay tungkol sa love and its forms, no matter how bizarre they are. Personally, I don’t even think na “love” yung na-feel nung dalawang bida dito. Para lang talaga silang nag-e-experiment, with disastrous results. For me it’s not about the lost of innocence, but how (young) people should weigh the consequences of their actions. Wala lang, para kasi silang may sariling mundo kaya nakakainis.

Onmyouji, Onmyouji II

Onmyouji (陰陽師, 2001)
Director: Takita Yojiro
A fun film to watch mainly because its approach is very straightforward. The movie is a fictional account of Abe no Seimei’s life, and by the way the movie was presented, you’ll get the idea that it’s not pretending to be “real” or something like that.

Abe no Seimei’s life is surrounded by myths already, so making a movie like this is not surprising.

It was just a bit “odd” because the characters spoke in standard Japanese. I was expecting that they will speak an older Japanese (more “lyrical”) but then again, who will even dare watch that? He he. I like Nomura Mansai’s acting; he seemed very “natural.” For a Heian-period movie it was entertaining and the plot was easy to understand.

Onmyouji II (陰陽師 II, 2001)
Director: Takita Yojiro
Ah, sequels. Surprisingly there wasn’t really a direct connection between the first movie and this one, as previous events weren’t even mentioned. However this movie dealt more with Shintoism, as it includes the story of the sun goddess Amaterasu and her bother Susa-no-O, the god of sea. The movie retained its cast, so there’s nothing to worry about acting and portrayal and such.

My only quirk in this movie is the introduction of the antagonists since they just appeared out of nowhere. The way they were introduced didn’t really make sense at first until the history behind Himiko was presented. I think that was the time when the movie’s story flowed smoothly.

Eli Eli Lema Sabachtani?

Eli Eli Lema Sabachtani? (My Lord, My Lord, Why Have You Forsaken Me?, 2005)
Director: Aoyama Shinji
As far as I can remember I’ve never seen any of Aoyama Shinji’s films, so I decided to check out Eli Eli Lema Sabachtani?. After all, with Miyazaki Aoi and Asano Tadanobu in the cast, I shouldn’t be worried about the film at all.

However, I think Eli Eli is not a movie for everyone. There’s a contrast between the deafening silence (due to limited dialogues) and deafening noise (due to Asano’s and Masaya’s music) that abound the film, and before you even reach the first half of the story, you might start to wonder a.) what the movie is about and b.) is it really worth watching.

The movie’s relatively short. The only thing is that there’s a lot of mundane activities going on in the film that makes it feel really slow and dragging. I guess the director purposely did that, but I have no idea why. What I really enjoyed in this film is the cinematography. The wash-out colors suit the atmosphere of the movie.

To-watch list

TokyoxErotica, Green Minds Metal Bats, Stereo Future, Daiten…, Moonlight Whisperers, All About my Dog, Gomen, Hana-bi, Saiyuki, Calling You, Hotel Hibiscus, Onmyouji, Sway, Tampopo, Maboroshi, The Pornographers, Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me and Sometimes Dad, Shindo, Tony Takitani, Dreams, April Story

tokyo.sora

tokyo.sora (Tokyo Sky, 2001)
Director: Ishikawa Hiroshi
If I am not mistaken, tokyo.sora is the first movie of Ishikawa Hiroshi, the same director who brought us Suki da,. So when I was researching about Suki da, I learned about this film and told myself that I am going to watch it when I get myself a copy. And since I’ve noticed his style throughout the latter film, I was expecting that the same directorial (?) style will be present in tokyo.sora.

True enough, it was almost as if I am watching the same film, only that tokyo.sora has a different story, has a more depressing feel on it and the movie looks “older” than what it was supposed to look because it’s “grainy” and has a documentary film-esque look. Personally I don’t think tokyo.sora is the type of movie that will keep everyone on their seat since it is very slow (slower than Suki da, if you ask me) and the interesting part of the film didn’t take place until the second half of the movie. It is very quiet as well; the characters don’t get to speak on the first five-ten minutes of the film. But unlike in Suki da, this made me feel really frustrated because I don’t know what on earth is going on in the film.

What I like in this film though is that the cinematography is very beautiful. There is no doubt that Ishikawa is one fine director when it comes to visuals. I guess what I really didn’t like in this film is that I was a bit confused with the characters at first. Everything unfolded by the end of the story. But the story that really caught my attention was Yoko’s, the writer slash GRO and her fascination with the girl named Yuki. The rest didn’t captivate me as much, so I find that a bit sad.

Technorati tags:
Ishikawa Hiroshi, tokyo.sora

Ima, Ai ni Yukimasu

Ima, Ai ni Yukimasu (今、会にゆきます | Be With You, 2004)
Director: Nobuhiro Doi
Another movie based from the story written by Ichikawa Takuji (the same person who wrote Tada, Kimi wo Aishiteru). Maybe it’s just the whole familiarity issue (I know most of the actors in Tada…), but I didn’t enjoy this movie this much, although I have to admit that I did cry a lot (as expected?) while watching the touching scenes in this movie.

The story is about Aio Takumi and his son Yuuji, who recently lost the only important woman in their life, Mio. While the father and son were rummaging in an abandoned area near their place one rainy day, they saw a woman who looks like Mio, but she doesn’t remember anything about the two. So Takumi and Yuuji took her in, as they tell her the story of their family. The question (and I guess, fear) lingers on, especially for Takumi, since it was believed that as soon as the rainy season ends, Mio’s stay will end as well.

I think what I really love in this film is the cinematography and the performance of the actors, particularly Nakamura Shidou and Takeuchi Yuuko. I really feel for Nakamura’s character, Takumi because I find him really sensitive and caring. As for the cinematography, I think it’s almost the same as Tada… even though the films have two separate directors. But then again, I wasn’t really able to enjoy the film that much, although the ‘kilig’ factor during the narration of the development of Takumi and Mio’s relationship was captured really well.

Anyway, because I already saw the movie version, I’m now curious about the TV (drama) version of Ima, Ai ni Yukimasu. I want to see how Narimiya Hiroki carry out the role of Aio Takumi.

Hatsukoi

Hatsukoi (初恋 | First Love, 2006)
Director: Hanawa Yukinari
I am not sure what to make of this film… I definitely love the cinematography; I love Koide Keisuke’s performance as Kishi, but somehow… I am not sure if Miyazaki Aoi’s performance failed me this time around.

Hatsukoi is the movie version of the alleged autobiography of an author named Nakahara Misuzu, and her involvement in the 300-million yen affair. If you’re going to ask me, I think that including the “confession” of her involvement is just a backdrop to the whole film, since I was drawn more to the tension between Misuzu (Miyazaki) and Kishi (Koide). I was more interested with Misuzu’s inner conflict, that the supposedly main scene in the film felt like sprinkles on top of the cupcake.

And for my favorite part of the film:

May 6, 1966

Today, I met a young girl. With unclouded eyes, she looked at me and said,

“I don’t want to be an adult.”

I fell in love with her. The kind of love you feel only once. But I can never tell her about it. I couldn’t bear to cloud those eyes.

I guess the only problem here is that Miyazaki’s character doesn’t like to talk that much, which was a bit of a problem for me, since everyone else was… well, talking. I cannot seem to put “silence” on the film, since it was, after all, in the 60s. But looking at it on a different angle, I think Misuzu is a breath of fresh air among the rest of the older characters on the bar, so that’s probably one reason why Miyazaki’s character has limited lines on the movie.

I was surprised to learn that the actor who performed Misuzu’s brother is actually Miyazaki Masaru, Miyazaki Aoi’s brother.

Picnic

Picnic (ピクニック | 1996)
Director: Iwai Shunji

I wasn’t expecting much of this film, since I barely know the people involved here (except for Tadanobu Asano). It turns out that this movie is a visually-stimulating film, really artsy and thought-provoking, too. I just realized that Picnic’s director, Iwai Shunji, is also the director of the movies Yentown/Swallowtail Butterfly and All About Lily Chou-chou. I haven’t seen these latter two films, but since I really enjoyed watching Picnic, then I might as well check them out. More »

Death Note and Death Note: The Last Name

Death Note; Death Note: The Last Name (デスノート, 2006)
Director: Kaneko Syuusuke
I’ve seen the first Death Note movie months ago, but I wasn’t able to write anything about it, until I watched its second installment, Death Note: The Last Name. I’ve heard that there were lots of changes made in the movie, so I decided that I have to watch the first film again, and then check out the second one.

There were, in fact, some significant differences in the movie and in the original comic (I didn’t bother watching the anime), which could be disappointing to some people. But despite of the changes made for the silver screen, I enjoyed watching Death Note and Death Note: The Last Name. The execution of the movie was good. I even liked the CG-ed Ryuk and Rem, although I’ve read some reviews that say that the computerized images of the shinigami were ugly. I think casting Matsuyama Ken’ichi as L was freaking brilliant. I had some apprehensions about Toda Erika’s performance as Amane Misa, because I was expecting a more bubbly and more ditzy-looking actress. But in general, she performed well. More »

Taiyou no Uta

Taiyou no Uta (タイヨウのうた | A Song for the Sun, 2006)
Director: Norihiro Koizumi
Didn’t watch the drama version of Taiyou no Uta because I thought that it will be another tearjerker TV show. I thought that watching the movie might tame the drama a bit, or something to that effect. Taiyou no Uta is about a girl named Amane Kaoru who has Xeroderma pigmentosum and is not allowed to be exposed to the sun. Nevertheless, she has a great singing voice, and she spends her day sleeping, and then going outside at night to sing. She also happens to adore a high school guy (played by Tsukamoto Takashi) outside her window. And you probably get the drift, don’t you?

I think that this movie is dragging. There aren’t a lot of dialogues in the film, but there are a handful of scenes were we get to see Amane Kaoru (portrayed by the singer YUI) singing on the street at night. It’s good that the movie isn’t a real tearjerker. I don’t even think there’s a strong chemistry between the two main characters. Speaking of characters, I think what lacks in this film is the character development, which is actually an advantage for the drama version which has enough screen time to focus more on the characters involved and are around Kaoru. It’s a highly-predictable film, I think, but if you’re a fan of one of the actors in this film then might as well check it if you want.

Technorati tags:
Taiyou no Uta, YUI, Norihiro Koizumi, Tsukamoto Takashi