Second Review!
Oct. 11th, 2006 08:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ravens_nestNow Last Quarter or Kagen no Tsuki if you prefer. Spoilers. Again nothing big, there’s more on Wikipedia.
This movie is based off of the Ai Yazawa manga of the same name. I haven’t read the manga so I don’t know how they compare. I’m just going off of the movie. The story is of a woebegone young woman who meets a mysterious musician, falls head over heels for him and will do anything to stay with him…Even forsake life itself.
Last Quarter
Mizuki Mochizuki (Chiaki Kuriyama) is a victim of fate. Her mother commits suicide and Mizuki walks in on the tail end of it at a tender young age, her father sires an illegitimate child on a different woman while still married to her mother (And then marries said mistress after her mother dies.), and as the movie opens on the day of her birthday she finds that her boyfriend Tomoki (Hiroki Narimiya) has cheated on her yet again, but this time with her best friend! So she takes a walk through the streets of Shibuya after lobbing her shoe at her boyfriend’s face. While walking a curious and mysterious strain of music is heard. She follows the notes and wanders into a seemingly empty mansion to find a really cute guy playing the guitar and crooning softly. His name is Adam (Hyde). She wonders how he knows that tune, for she’s known it for her entire life and cannot remember the end. Mysteriously he replies, “I wrote it for you.” I know you’re wondering, WTF?! Well it gets better.
This was an awesome movie! The mysterious air is preserved throughout the movie, with help from the entire production. The script was very tight and well written, no glaring plot holes or odd occurrences. The acting ranged from very good to excellent and carried the story well. The set and costume design was stunning. All these things combined and carried the ambiance of mystery, star-crossed love and finding your true path.
The story doesn’t dither around at the beginning. Within the first half hour you learn that Adam is dead and Mizuki is thrown into a deep coma and undergoes astral projection coupled with near total memory loss. All she remembers is the week she spent with Adam and that she’s desperate to find him. The bulk of the plot is centered on the children, Hotaru Shiraishi (Tomoka Kurokawa) and Masaki Miura (Motoki Ochiai), and her now contrite ex-boyfriend Tomoki, who are trying to find a way to wake Mizuki up from her coma.
When Mizuki is hit by a truck (Not a big spoiler, as it happens at the beginning of the movie.), she is transported to a strange forest road strewn with broken objects and lined with dead trees covered with scraps of fluttering cloth like a demented ghost decided to Tee-Pee the wood with it’s own ragged ensemble. This is where we really see the amazing scene design comes into play. The change from the modern streets of Japan to the fanciful and wholly creepy Road of the Underworld is striking. You understand immediately that you’re not in Kansas anymore and the “yellow-brick” road you’re on leads to your ultimate “Home.” Mizuki finds herself wearing a beautiful but gothic ally haunting gown and standing at a black wrought-iron gate. As she moves forward, a cat appears. It seems to be smoking and wisps of mist plume from its fur. A young girl walks up; looking for her cat and Mizuki helps her. The girl waves good-bye. Mizuki now turns to the gate. But, oh no! It’s locked! She suddenly sees Adam on the other side, flickering as if unable to decide whether he wants to be there. Mizuki jabs her hand through the gate reaching for him, but the barred gate will not open and Adam does not return.
Suddenly (But not awkwardly so.), we’re in a hospital room. The girl from before is there. Her name is Hotaru Shiraishi. Hotaru eventually ends up at the mansion from before. This time though the manse is dilapidated and abandoned rather than just empty. How? We don’t know yet. (This is another set piece done beautifully.) Hotaru finds Mizuki inside. They remember each other from the underworld and quickly settle down to talk. The problem is that Mizuki doesn’t remember who she is. Meanwhile Hotaru’s classmate Masaki has followed her into the mansion and hears the conversation. He joins in with Hotaru’s plan to find out who this girl is and help her move on to the next world. They name her Eve to match with Adam.
Eventually Mizuki’s ex, Tomoki, joins the search and it quickly becomes a search to find a way to restore Mizuki to her body and return her memories. But always Adam calls to her and a growing need to find him consumes her.
Chiaki’s acting was superb. I’ve seen her in Kill Bill 1 and she was great there too, but don’t walk into this thinking of Gogo Yubari. This character is completely different. She is intense when she needs to be and loving, but not overly so. The emotions of the character really show through Chiaki’s acting ability and she never seems awkward. She’s a real pro. I almost didn’t recognize her until one point where she gets incensed and I thought, “Hey, that’s Gogo.” That’s a mark of a true actor.
Hiroki’s Tomoki was great too. He really sold me on the remorseful boyfriend. You still thought he was a sleazebag, but by the end of the movie he redeems himself and you start to like him.
The kids were awesome too, especially, the girl Tomoka. Her character was rich and I felt she really lived up to the image. The boy Motoki was a little awkward in places with his character and the dialogue. Sometimes his lines were a little slow, but in the end he was pretty nice too.
Now, Hyde. This is Hyde’s second movie. So I’ll be a little harder on him than last time. He hasn’t taken any acting classes and it shows. It’s not that bad, but again like in Moon Child his emotions were sometimes a little too much and seemed forced. He’s not quite channeling his emotions correctly. The one scene of him crying is really awkward to watch because you can just see the thought process going through his head, “Must cry now. Sad part of story.” The bits where he interacted with Mizuki in the house were good. And, sorry for saying this, but the bits of him standing silent, mysterious and ghostly were his best. But I will say those scenes really added to the ethereal quality of the movie. The flash backs to when he was alive were great too. Kudos, Hyde! If he’s thinking of pursuing this type of career, I’d recommend some acting classes. He has a lot of untapped and unrefined potential in this area. He could do very well with a few lessons.
Well that’s all. The rest you’ll have to find out yourselves. Suffice it to say this was excellent.
Raven Adams (Aener)
This movie is based off of the Ai Yazawa manga of the same name. I haven’t read the manga so I don’t know how they compare. I’m just going off of the movie. The story is of a woebegone young woman who meets a mysterious musician, falls head over heels for him and will do anything to stay with him…Even forsake life itself.
Last Quarter
Mizuki Mochizuki (Chiaki Kuriyama) is a victim of fate. Her mother commits suicide and Mizuki walks in on the tail end of it at a tender young age, her father sires an illegitimate child on a different woman while still married to her mother (And then marries said mistress after her mother dies.), and as the movie opens on the day of her birthday she finds that her boyfriend Tomoki (Hiroki Narimiya) has cheated on her yet again, but this time with her best friend! So she takes a walk through the streets of Shibuya after lobbing her shoe at her boyfriend’s face. While walking a curious and mysterious strain of music is heard. She follows the notes and wanders into a seemingly empty mansion to find a really cute guy playing the guitar and crooning softly. His name is Adam (Hyde). She wonders how he knows that tune, for she’s known it for her entire life and cannot remember the end. Mysteriously he replies, “I wrote it for you.” I know you’re wondering, WTF?! Well it gets better.
This was an awesome movie! The mysterious air is preserved throughout the movie, with help from the entire production. The script was very tight and well written, no glaring plot holes or odd occurrences. The acting ranged from very good to excellent and carried the story well. The set and costume design was stunning. All these things combined and carried the ambiance of mystery, star-crossed love and finding your true path.
The story doesn’t dither around at the beginning. Within the first half hour you learn that Adam is dead and Mizuki is thrown into a deep coma and undergoes astral projection coupled with near total memory loss. All she remembers is the week she spent with Adam and that she’s desperate to find him. The bulk of the plot is centered on the children, Hotaru Shiraishi (Tomoka Kurokawa) and Masaki Miura (Motoki Ochiai), and her now contrite ex-boyfriend Tomoki, who are trying to find a way to wake Mizuki up from her coma.
When Mizuki is hit by a truck (Not a big spoiler, as it happens at the beginning of the movie.), she is transported to a strange forest road strewn with broken objects and lined with dead trees covered with scraps of fluttering cloth like a demented ghost decided to Tee-Pee the wood with it’s own ragged ensemble. This is where we really see the amazing scene design comes into play. The change from the modern streets of Japan to the fanciful and wholly creepy Road of the Underworld is striking. You understand immediately that you’re not in Kansas anymore and the “yellow-brick” road you’re on leads to your ultimate “Home.” Mizuki finds herself wearing a beautiful but gothic ally haunting gown and standing at a black wrought-iron gate. As she moves forward, a cat appears. It seems to be smoking and wisps of mist plume from its fur. A young girl walks up; looking for her cat and Mizuki helps her. The girl waves good-bye. Mizuki now turns to the gate. But, oh no! It’s locked! She suddenly sees Adam on the other side, flickering as if unable to decide whether he wants to be there. Mizuki jabs her hand through the gate reaching for him, but the barred gate will not open and Adam does not return.
Suddenly (But not awkwardly so.), we’re in a hospital room. The girl from before is there. Her name is Hotaru Shiraishi. Hotaru eventually ends up at the mansion from before. This time though the manse is dilapidated and abandoned rather than just empty. How? We don’t know yet. (This is another set piece done beautifully.) Hotaru finds Mizuki inside. They remember each other from the underworld and quickly settle down to talk. The problem is that Mizuki doesn’t remember who she is. Meanwhile Hotaru’s classmate Masaki has followed her into the mansion and hears the conversation. He joins in with Hotaru’s plan to find out who this girl is and help her move on to the next world. They name her Eve to match with Adam.
Eventually Mizuki’s ex, Tomoki, joins the search and it quickly becomes a search to find a way to restore Mizuki to her body and return her memories. But always Adam calls to her and a growing need to find him consumes her.
Chiaki’s acting was superb. I’ve seen her in Kill Bill 1 and she was great there too, but don’t walk into this thinking of Gogo Yubari. This character is completely different. She is intense when she needs to be and loving, but not overly so. The emotions of the character really show through Chiaki’s acting ability and she never seems awkward. She’s a real pro. I almost didn’t recognize her until one point where she gets incensed and I thought, “Hey, that’s Gogo.” That’s a mark of a true actor.
Hiroki’s Tomoki was great too. He really sold me on the remorseful boyfriend. You still thought he was a sleazebag, but by the end of the movie he redeems himself and you start to like him.
The kids were awesome too, especially, the girl Tomoka. Her character was rich and I felt she really lived up to the image. The boy Motoki was a little awkward in places with his character and the dialogue. Sometimes his lines were a little slow, but in the end he was pretty nice too.
Now, Hyde. This is Hyde’s second movie. So I’ll be a little harder on him than last time. He hasn’t taken any acting classes and it shows. It’s not that bad, but again like in Moon Child his emotions were sometimes a little too much and seemed forced. He’s not quite channeling his emotions correctly. The one scene of him crying is really awkward to watch because you can just see the thought process going through his head, “Must cry now. Sad part of story.” The bits where he interacted with Mizuki in the house were good. And, sorry for saying this, but the bits of him standing silent, mysterious and ghostly were his best. But I will say those scenes really added to the ethereal quality of the movie. The flash backs to when he was alive were great too. Kudos, Hyde! If he’s thinking of pursuing this type of career, I’d recommend some acting classes. He has a lot of untapped and unrefined potential in this area. He could do very well with a few lessons.
Well that’s all. The rest you’ll have to find out yourselves. Suffice it to say this was excellent.
Raven Adams (Aener)
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no subject
Date: 2006-10-11 07:54 pm (UTC)Anyway, there's nothing I hate more than reading crappy reviews, so uh, cookies or something. XD
no subject
Date: 2006-10-13 05:47 am (UTC)First, I'm sorry for the lack of comments on cinematography. I don't have any knowledge in that area. I'm a Lit major, so what I review for is the story, are there holes, was it coherent, did it flow well, etc. I comment on how it made me feel and why I think it made me feel that way. I'm thinking of looking up more on cinematography to help me with reviews. But I'm mostly doing this to practice writing outside of school. There's also the fact that I did these reviews at three in the morning. I'll watch the movies again and revise the reviews when I've had a sufficient amount of sleep.
Sometimes a good story-line will blind me to other aspects of a movie/show/book. It's a weakness I'm trying to correct. This is why I really like a show like Weiss Kreuz. That is the most cliched, melodramatic piece of crap anime I've seen in a long time, but the story of each character is so intriguing and has so much potential that I love it anyway and watch it to learn as much as I can about each character...and then analyze each.
I spent more time on Hyde's acting because I found it so lacking. I also need to focus more on the good instead of harping about the bad. Sorry. But I really do think he could do well with training. Not spectacular, Johnny Depp, Morgan Freeman acting, but good nonetheless.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-13 03:36 pm (UTC)