Japanese Movies/Discussion/Recommendations

[Terryb]

well if I'm not getting it, you tell me why I should watch the second half of the movie. cos I just fell asleep at 1h17mins. I don't think anything significant happened (yet) and the movie is like 2h40mins?

[gaijinmark]

Last night I saw Manami's OTHER new movie, Tenshi noTamago and I didn't think it was all that great. The male lead, Hayato Ichihara, just wasn't convincing. Manami did a good job as usual. HOWEVER, if you're an Erika Sawajiri fan, I would say check this movie out! Hard to believe that only about 3 1/2 years ago, she had a bit role as an airhead highschool girl in "Hotman". She has grown so much!

[Anime Dad]

That would make a change for Erika-chan... I haven't heard many good things about her latest roles.

[gaijinmark]

Anime Dad wrote:

That would make a change for Erika-chan... I haven't heard many good things about her latest roles.

I haven't really followed her all that much, but she was in the opening scene and my first reaction was, "Hey, she a looks a lot like, oh, , , wait, it is!"

[Anime Dad]

Yeah, there's nobody quite like Erika-chan. I'm not a huge fan, but even diehard Erika fans haven't thought much of her latest movies

[Geezer]

I watched "Udon" this evening and during the first hour I found myself wondering why the movie had gotten such tepid reviews.

Then I saw the rest of it and understood. It had no third act.

A nice cast. The beginnings of a nice little story. And then... well to be honest, I started dozing. They just didn't seem to have any real idea of where to go with the story.

It was nice to see some of the cast members of "Summer Time Machine Blues" show up in a cameo appearance. And I started looking around to see if anyone else I knew was making an appearance.

And then it occured to me, I was no longer paying attention to the story. I was stargazing.

Not a good sign.
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[don]

I'm not sure if anyone mentioned these before but these 2 movies are worth watching. Both have elements of avant gardism, I guess you could say, but thats not what made these film noteworthy. Its the story and the actresses.

Memories of Matusko Story of the life of one woman whose life continually took a turn for the worse even though she always had the best of intentions. Miki Nakatani won the Asian Best Actress Award for her role.

Sakuran Kind of an updated and much more sophisticated story of Memoirs of a Geisha. In this case, its the story of an oiran (prostitute) during the Edo period who was sold to a brothel when she was a young girl. But she acts just like a modern day Shibuya girl and doesn't take sh*t from anyone. Main role played excellently by Anna Tsuchiya from Shimotsuma Monogatari (Kamikaze Girls). Theme of the movie is, "A goldfish cannot live outside its bowl."

[bmwracer]

Geezer wrote:

I watched "Udon" this evening and during the first hour I found myself wondering why the movie had gotten such tepid reviews. Then I saw the rest of it and understood. It had no third act. A nice cast. The beginnings of a nice little story. And then... well to be honest, I started dozing. They just didn't seem to have any real idea of where to go with the story. It was nice to see some of the cast members of "Summer Time Machine Blues" show up in a cameo appearance. And I started looking around to see if anyone else I knew was making an appearance. And then it occured to me, I was no longer paying attention to the story. I was stargazing. Not a good sign.

Hmm, I enjoyed it.

[tabana]

don wrote:

Sakuran Kind of an updated and much more sophisticated story of Memoirs of a Geisha. In this case, its the story of an oiran (prostitute) during the Edo period who was sold to a brothel when she was a young girl. But she acts just like a modern day Shibuya girl and doesn't take sh*t from anyone. Main role played excellently by Anna Tsuchiya from Shimotsuma Monogatari (Kamikaze Girls). Theme of the movie is, "A goldfish cannot live outside its bowl."

That sounds great. I'll have to check that out. Thanks.
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[Terryb]

Same here, I enjoyed watching Udon.

As for Noriko's dinner table: I finally forced myself to finish it and it took me 4 attempts, like many 'prequels' IMO this should have never been made (just like Infernal Affairs 2+3). surely it does give you a few hints about Suicide Club - but it shouldn't have been linked to the movie to start with.

I would have watched this with a different view if it wasn't, now it just spoiled it for me.

I watched another movie in between though: 9 Souls, really enjoyable flick (by the director of Aoi Haru (Blue Spring)

[gto_girlz83]

Unfair is another investigation drama but it only has one murderer that connected to all episodes..Unpredictable drama and interesting plot.
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[gto_girlz83]

By the way, anybody know where can i get Unfair Special EngSub?? i did tried searcha t d-addicts subtitle but cannot find it and i don't know where to post this question..Gommei..
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[bmwracer]

See the Unfair thread in the Drama section.


Currently there are no English subs for the special.

[Terryb]

Unfair the movie should be airing in theatures see: http://unfair-movie.jp/index.html

can't wait for it to be released on dvd

[Geezer]

Don

That I know of, Sakuran hasn't made it to the U.S. yet, and I haven't found any downloads for it. But Tu-Triky gave me a heads-up on it, and I caught a couple of the previews on YouTube. Movie looks like a trip.

The only thing that worries me is that the director is a big time photographer, making his first movie. Oh well, fingers crossed... I'm still looking forward to seeing it.

So far, Anna Tsuchiya hasn't done that much to impress me, but IMO any movie that features Miho Kanno, Yoshino Kimura, and Kippei Shina is worth looking for.

Re: Memories of Matsuko... as big a fan of Miki Nakatani as I am (and I am a huge Miki fan) I was very disappointed in that movie. Lots of pretty pictures. And Miki did an outstanding job with what she had to work with. But I thought the movie was scattered & shallow.

BMW

I didn't think "Udon" was awful. I just thought it got lost and a bit boring toward the end.

Considering the cast, and the writers, maybe I was expecting too much.
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[bmwracer]

Geezer wrote:

BMW I didn't think "Udon" was awful. I just thought it got lost and a bit boring toward the end. Considering the cast, and the writers, maybe I was expecting too much.

It did get sorta sentimental at the end, but that didn't bother me that much.

Admittedly, it pales next to his previous work Summer Time Machine Blues: if you weren't alert and paying attention throughout, you miss numerous key points...

[Geezer]

I like sentimental!!! But toward the end of the movie, I just kept thinking... So?

RE: "Summer Time Machine Blues"... as I said, the high point of the second half of the movie for me was seeing Yoko Maki and three of the guys from the Sci Fi club joining in on the Udon Pilgrimage.
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Manga is to Literature
what Graffiti is to Art

[bmwracer]

Geezer wrote:

RE: "Summer Time Machine Blues"... as I said, the high point of the second half of the movie for me was seeing Yoko Maki and three of the guys from the Sci Fi club joining in on the Udon Pilgrimage.

I think I saw the Relativity professor (Jose?) in one scene as well...

If I'm not mistaken, he's the same actor who got poisoned at the end of Kuitan....

[Anime Dad]

I finally got a download for Udon on eMule. My torrent wasn't going anywhere at all

[gaijinmark]

Geezer wrote:

I watched "Udon" this evening Then I saw the rest of it and understood. It had no third act.

As much as I love Manami I have to agree with you. It's like they couldn't decide which way to go with the ending, so they tried to have it both ways. But, having said that, I'd take Udon over Tenshi no Tamago anyday!