Recent and not so recent Japanese dramas

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 19 May 2008, 10:57

Anyone seen Tenten (Adrift in Tokyo)? It doesn't look especially promising, but who knows. Perhaps even worth a purchase? I love that cutie sweetie Jo Odagiri.

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 19 May 2008, 11:07

I was just reading up on this film last night, will probably get it soon so can let you know.

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 19 May 2008, 17:04

Every time someone watches a film with Joe Odagiri a paedophile is born and seventeen babies die of starvation.

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 19 May 2008, 20:31

That's the same thing as what happens everytime you make a post slagging someone else's taste off!

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 20 May 2008, 02:52

Shingster wrote:That's the same thing as what happens everytime you make a post slagging someone else's taste off!

My way doesn't encourage a twat with ridiculous hair.

----

I've just been watching Gaichu, I suppose this film is supposed to feel tragic, well, I wasn't feeling any of that but nonetheless I still liked it for the long sequences devoid of any dialogue of significance. The plot itself didn't really interest me, it just seemed to get in the way as it wasn't presented with any conviction.

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 20 May 2008, 10:57

Lourdes wrote:My way doesn't encourage a twat with ridiculous hair.

Haha, well I can't argue with that!

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 21 May 2008, 00:55

Saw Gipusu/Gips. It's just about a 'quirky' (selfish cow) girl who wears a cast to attract sycophants and in the case of a young office lady there is reciprocated love, in a manner. I sat through the first half hour and then flicked through the rest, it doesn't need to be anything close to that length as it just keeps on repeating itself and wasting time. Had it been a short I would have been interested, it could have been quite good if it was a short. Unfortunately as is I'm forced to dismiss it as overlong Ayanami Rei fetishism.

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 22 Jul 2008, 10:32

Tokyo gomi onna (2000)

Former pink director Ryuichi Hiroki’s contribution to the 6 part Love Cinema series. Shot on digital and looking good, but the film’s young and unhappy slacker characters can be a bit hard to connect with. It depends on the viewer’s own personality to some extent, though. Acting is fine. There’s a tiny bit of unneeded indie drama hippiness to the production, but generally Hiroki’s cinematic touch is pleasing. Some scenes, like the night restaurant sequence and the ending, are terrific.

The R2J by Pony Canyon (OOP) is fullscreen. R1 is apparently widescreen, but the company being Kino 1.33:1 is probably the correct aspect ratio. I couldn't find sure info about it, but I checked a couple of other films in the Love Cinema series and they were all shot fullscreen. Among the R2J extras there's something that seems like a short movie (I haven't watched it and I'm not totally sure that it is) running about 25 min.

Extra film (?)

R2J cover (beautiful)

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 22 Jul 2008, 10:40

Love on Sunday (2006)

After several darker themed (although beautifully shot) films Hiroki takes a lighter turn. Love on Sunday is a rather good high school drama, not overly mainstream on all areas but far more accessible to casual viewers than most of the director’s films. The screenplay has some problems, especially one unconvincing supporting character, but Hiroki gets close enough to the characters without too much underlining. The visual look works, too, a bit surprising considering I’m not a fan of boosted contrasts. But the film looks gritty and homemade enough to set it appart from most other, overly polished youth films. Don’t go expecting anything too special, and you may be positively surprised. It’s a conventional character circle seen through Hiroki’s observant eyes. Takami Mizuhashi’s performance in the lead role is very good.

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 22 Jul 2008, 10:43

Love/Juice (2000)

Directorial debut by Kaze Shindo (Kaneto Shindo’s granddaughter). Not bad, although you can clearly see it’s the director’s first film. Mika Okuno and Chika Fujimura play Chinatsu and Kyoko, two young women living together. They are friends, but Chinatsu is also more or less in love with Kyoko. Kyoko would prefer finding a boyfriend. The relationship between these characters is interesting and mostly well handled, no sentimential love dorama here. In fact the problem is the opposite, Shindo goes to the other end and turns the film into a slightly cliched ”realistic character drama” with a couple of unwelcome ”dramatic turns”. But appart from a few scenes the film is enjoyable enough to follow. The grainy visual outlook (very similar to Iwai’s Swallowtail Butterfly) is never bad for this sort of film although it doesn’t really add anything special here. Fujimura and Okuno, whose character is the more interesting of the two, are fine in their roles.

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 22 Jul 2008, 11:13

Umoregi (2005)

With no previous experience of Kohei Oguri’s work I had no expectations other than what the beautiful dvd package created. Umoregi is indeed a beautiful film. There’s no specific storyline, only a small village preparing for an annual festival. For my taste a stronger character focus might have worked better, but on the other hand the film never feels forced or obliged to follow the traditional storytelling formula. Many scenes have a slightly dream-like atmosphere. For example in my favourite scene, where we see two of the film’s characters on a playground at night time, the backgrounds look almost as if they were miniature models (although they are not). I had the same feeling in some other scenes, too. There’s certain simplicity and quietness to many shots that sets Oguri’s style appart from other directors.

I think there's a French dvd available, but you naturally want to own the R2J. The package is an absolutely gorgeous. A couple of pictures (which don't show the whole package) after the caps.

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 24 Jul 2008, 13:26

How to Become Myself (2007)

As far as subtle cinematic language goes Jun Ichikawa, when at his best, is probably the greatest director in Japan, maybe better than anyone else in the world. How to Become Myself is another beautiful film although not as powerful as some of the director’s earlier films. The wonderful title describes the content perfectly. Riko Narumi plays a 14 year old girl who during her last day of school has a conversation with another girl in her class (Atsuko Maeda). Two years later she accidentally finds out her email address and decides make friends with her, but without revealing her identity. She starts writing a story about Hina and Kotori, Kotori being a fantasized, ideal version of herself. Both girls take different roles in their real life and are affected by friends, parents and their own ideas of that they should be like. Some scenes in the film, the ever so slightly sentimential ending included, don’t work to the fullest. Still, films as poignant as this are few and far between. Acting is great throughout, with the lead star Riko Narumi giving a stunningly good performance. Quite a charming film.

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 10 Sep 2008, 17:07

Rainbow Song (2006)

This one gained initial interest points by being based on Shunji Iwai’s scrip. Vaguely described it’s Hana and Alice with less humour, male lead, and the death of one character written into the story. The master’s magic is missing, there’s no going round that, but Nana plastic this is not. Naoto Kumazawa isn’t an exceptionally talented director, but he’s attempting the right thing most of the time. Major melodrama and sobbing is kept out, although there’s a couple of weaker moments like one part that plays out almost like a farce (story wise, not visually). The film is divided into chapters and often you can tell the quality of the following scenes from the sub-title; Stalker Days is not as good The Kodak Girl. The storyline follows two university students making a film. Juri Ueno, as a novice director, and Hayato Ichihara as her assistant / actor both fare well, but it’s Yu Aoi’s brief but enjoyable appearance that stands out. Bright and slightly washed out visual look supports the film.

Caps from Edko's dvd-5.

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 16 Sep 2008, 20:03

I don't suppose anyone has seen Naoto Kumazawa's earlier film Letters from Kanai Nirai (ニライカナイからの手紙), starring Yu Aoi? It doesn't necessarily sound good (something about a girl who only knew her mother by letters...) but it does look somewhat good.

- http://www.cinemacafe.net/movies/cgi/14569/#
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0471282/

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 23 Sep 2008, 15:58

Jun Ichikawa dies at 59

One of the few directors I still had faith in. Very sad.

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 23 Sep 2008, 20:13

Holy shit! One of my favourite filmmakers and was still at the top of his game at 59. That's no age for a Japanese fella to bow out!

R.I.P Ichikawa sensei. I think this my deserve itself a seperate thread, he was one of the major Japanese masters still active, until now of course.

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 23 Sep 2008, 21:00

Shingster wrote: I think this my deserve itself a seperate thread, he was one of the major Japanese masters still active, until now of course.

Go ahead if you want to. Maybe it will make more people interested in his films.

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 30 Sep 2008, 18:55

As I already mentioned in the other thread, Tokyo Sonata is very good. Now I finally have motivation to order Barren Illusion, too. And start waiting for R2J Sonata, probably coming sometime next year. I think I read UK's Masters of Cinema has picked this, too.

I always thought Kiyoshi Kurosawa might be able to pull out a great movie if he left the ghost out. That’s exactly what he does here. The director crafts a slightly satiric downfall drama that becomes increasingly humoristic, even absurd. It all begins when a white collar father loses his job, and is too embarrassed to tell the truth to his family. Some of the plot turns don’t even attempt to be believable, but Kurosawa evens the affair with restrained visual style and relatively slow pace. The soundtrack works quite well. After halfway, during Koji Yakusho’s comedic appearance, there’s a long continous take where Kurosawa’s skill really shows.

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 06 Oct 2008, 22:36

Schilling gives Hiroki's Kimo no tomodachi 4,5/5. Not that he's exactly a good reference, but it doesn't have a negative effect on how much I'm looking forward to this.

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 11 Oct 2008, 20:00

Trailer for Ichikawa's last
http://www.tiff-jp.net/en/lineup/works.php?id=144

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 18 Oct 2008, 18:17

Mizu no hana (2005)

Beautifully shot debut from Yusuke Kinoshita. The story is about a junior high school girl (Saki Terashima) who runs from home with her 6 year old half-sister (Himawari Ono). Some of the grounding for the story – drunken father, single mom who doesn’t have time for her daughter – doesn’t sound very delicate, but the director always keeps it very low key. There’s more silence than dialogue. Cinematography and soundtrack work well. Not quite as good as the atmospheric trailer, but Kinoshita definitely seems like a director to keep an eye on.

On the R2J dvd there the usual trailer and documentary (17 min), plus an amazingly good photo gallery (59 photos). Some examples after film captures.

HungFist · Post by **HungFist** » 18 Nov 2008, 20:26

UK's Third Window Films will be releasing Turtles are Surprisingly Fast Swimmers in February 2009. I've heard good things about this film and was actually considering a R2J (or R3K) purhase. But if the Brits manage a native PAL transfer (or should I throw all hope out of the window already?) maybe I'll get this one instead.

diceman · Post by **diceman** » 24 Nov 2008, 21:52

LOVE MY LIFE (Japan, 2006)
Lesbian Coming-of-Age Romance in contemporary Tokyo by the director of "Girls Rebel Force of competitive Swimmers"?
I know how bad that must sound, but surprisingly it's not, because "Love my Life" is like a completely different movie from like a completely different director. No kinky fanservice around here, get your minds out of the gutter, but a surprisingly charming, honest and sometimes even romantic coming-out tale with good acting. Just be prepared for a lot of drama on the light side of things, not to say "shallow"; yes, it's true, there's not much of emotional depth to be found here; accompanied by an upbeat, catchy Indie Rock-Soundtrack "Love my Life" is all about overcoming obstacles instead of being hindered by them. Did I mention the actresses are really cute? There are some subtle erotic moments, too, but I didn't found them awkward or overly exploitive. In the end, ironically, it's that toned down approach on conflicts, the shallowness of it all, that turns out to be the real reason why "Love my Life" manages so well to evade seemingly impending clichéd situations, yet at the same time remaining mainstream enough to keep its charming appeal to both girls and boys, regardless of their sexual preferences.
Well, I guess that means I liked it. And, yes, they get naked.

- Trailer

diceman · Post by **diceman** » 27 Nov 2008, 22:39

I'm currently having lots of fun with the live-action adaption of "Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon" for Japanese TV. It's pretty low-brow entertainment but still a pleasant way to kill at least a ton of braincells per episode (and there's 49 of them . . . episodes, not braincells, mind).

I guess I don't have to tell you that it's a pretty cheaply produced show with poor but always hyperbolic acting by a bunch of kawaii Idols. Add some soapy Highschool-drama and Schooluniforms so brightly coloured they seem like Cosplay-wear (and I'm not talking about their battle-wear). But what "Sailor Moon" actually is pretty good at is poking fun at awkward everyday-situations, like dating-adversities or cute misunderstandings; there are a bunch of truly hilarious events throughout. And of course Karaoke. Lots of it. Since all the girls also have a real-life popstar-background with major media-presence, the script doesn't shy back from throwing in some of the most ridiculous twists ever seen just for the sake of including another scene of a singing-performance into the storyline.

The action really shouldn't be called like that since it's merely more than a parade of cute girls doing backflips and awkward kicks missing their targets by more than two inch (but lets just pretend they didn't), with their short, high-flying mini-skirts revealing an inflationary share of accidental (but monumentally obtrusive) panty-shots as a side-effect, making you feel like a moderate pervert. There are some weird choices of locations as well: at one point they're fighting in a church, then they run through a door, and suddenly they're in a school's sports-coliseum with a rotating cross being projected on the walls. With at least one required full-length transformation sequence per episode, cheesy CGI and always resorting to a random super-power as a last-instance Deus ex Machina, the fight-scenes can hardly be described as original. The bad guys are quite boring, too, always standing around in a dark cave, laughing threateningly (if they're not playing Beethoven on the piano) while hatching absurd plans to conquer the world. By the way, my favorite Senshis are Keiko "Sailor Mars" Kitagawa and Ayaka Komatsu, a.k.a. "Sailor Venus." (No. 3 and 4 from the left in the above picture).

Now, if this doesn't sound like a lot of fun to you, you're probably right and I'm just another hopeless Otaku getting off on cheap thrills, as long as they're Japanese. On the other hand . . . no, you're right. I am really a hopeless case.

Before I forget, here's some Ayaka Komatsu for you:

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 13 Dec 2008, 08:13

Nice!

And Hung, yeah I saw that on Third Window's site recently and that's on my wishlist too 8) they've got a few titles coming that look good actually, let's hope they've improved their DVD standards.