SPEC: close-incarnation(2013)

the film which is loud and proud 

about not caring about logic....

what is this SPEC you speak of? because it is a SPEC you can really appreciate 

http://genkinahito.wordpress.com/2013/11/29/spec-close-crisscross-version-asa-hiru-ban-story-of-a-butcher-shop-japanese-film-trailers/
http://the-afterimage.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/keizoku-2-spec-close-kou-no-hen-movie.html
http://asianwiki.com/SPEC:_Close~Incarnation

before i comment on this film, i will point out firstly that i have not watch the previous film but despite this the film is self explanatory i would conclude and like a television show explains itself in great detail in the first few minutes. secondly the film with in the first 10 minutes i realised that it was making fun of itself in a blatantly obvious way and this is something a appreciated greatly. i will be watching the next movie with great anticipation, the characters overreacting and interaction with each other held no boundaries but why should it. the acting was raw, intense and experimental at times ( sometimes the jokes worked and at time they didn't but there was so much to take in that you didn't have chances to be disappointed). i review Erika Toda in the Liar Game where she seemed like a naive character but in Spec; Erika Toda is a completely different characters, she is more confident character who is ready for action.Chaiki Kuriyama did not have a big part in the movie but because it is continuous story i didn't think that this matter because the story was interesting if not beqarar at times.the over light-hearted narrative was engaging, with random moments like the grandmother with grenade which no one questions and why should they? Spec is a movie that i have wanted to watch for a while and it did not disappoint. it is unique to say the least and worth a watch.

Ultra Miracle Love Story (2009)

All this nonsense about cabbage's with brains

and people with no brains

I think that makes a whole lot of something?

http://asianwiki.com/Bare_Essence_of_Life

http://twitchfilm.com/2010/07/japan-cuts-2010-bare-essence-of-life-ultra-miracle-love-story-review.html

http://www.beyondhollywood.com/bare-essence-of-life-aka-ultra-miracle-love-story-2009-movie-review/

http://nishikataeiga.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/bare-essence-of-life-2009.html

http://www.japansociety.org/event_detail?eid=490bbe5d

ultar love story is a film i have been meaning to watch for a while and i really had to force myself to watch this film for many reasons. reason one is because even though it had my favorite actor in it, it felt like a child had written the script and my attention kept wondering off the screen toward other distraction. the film is not a love story and it makes you ask more question's about the characters then any other film; kenishi's character spends the whole film obsessing about about vegetables and acting so childish that he thinks it is a good idea to spray himself with pesticide.kumiko's charmer on the other hand was a straight laced characters, even though i have seen her in simulator roles, her character is usually bizarrely quirky in some way and she was a little to seriou in this role but saying that i think would be impossible to comment with a character like kenishi's who was constantly bouncing off the walls (that's not metaphorical in anyway shape or form). i am disappointed because of the shear fact that this film had two of my favorite actors are in the film but it was not how i envisioned it to be and there was not real acting chemistry between them. the film should be called either the "complex life of the cabbage patch kid" or "killer cabbage ate my brain" because those titles describe the film better i think.

Don't Laugh at Our Romance (2008)

Seriously don't laugh at my romance

Staring L from Death Note as Mirume

http://happyotter666.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/dont-laugh-at-my-romance-2007.html

http://asianwiki.com/Don't_Laugh_at_My_Romance

 

Not many people have reviewed this film but it was hard to find nevertheless and it is not the soppy romantic comedy film that i imagined it to be. Mirume is a student,we are introduced to Yuri his love interest right at the beginning of the film who is stranded and trying to hitch-hike bad home but stubble upon the van that Mirume is in. i presumed that this was the begging of their story, although Yuri don't have any recollection of meeting Mirume afterwards when they are both at school together and Mirume mention this to her. which begs the question how intoxicated was she and a normal occurrence to her. it is also clear that En-chan like Mirume, she is quite jealous when he ignores her and spends all his time with Yuri. The film is filled with long pauses, awkward silences at time when it isn't being playful between characters and is trying to reflect on the characters emotional states. Yuri is the cause and effect of all the other character story; she turns both Mirume and En-chan into depressing characters although the characters have different outcomes. Yuri is an older woman which you don't realise at first, as well as other details about her life that Mirume didn't realise and make his life far more complicated than it needs to be. the overall film has some really interesting concepts asks the viewer questions how love and life differ from Hollywood love stories but I think it could have been a shorter film. Even though the film had some amazing scenes with made to questions the characters mentality in a charmingly hilarious way, it still dragged at times and was being more film noire than it was being a comedy .which i was expecting to see a comedy. 

 

 

An Encyclopedia of Unconventional Women(2009)

http://asianwiki.com/An_Encyclopedia_of_Unconventional_Women

An Encyclopaedia of Unconventional Women is an interesting film which is were divided into six stories which all told different stories about unconventional women and had different directors for each tale. each story was set out like an experimental episode which had no relevance or similarity with each other. I did not like all of the stories, even the narratives of the stories I enjoyed where fouled but you have to appreciate that narratives are trying to make a comment of Japanese culture and are personal interpretations of women or what make a woman unusual to society. most of the narratives show women who rebel against other people, the First woman rebels against apart of her classroom and wants to be grown up even through she is clearly a child at heart. The second wants to fight for her right to have free food but then doesn't want the food in the end even though she wins ( I think this mean she want the freedom of chose); The third woman obsesses over if she wants to wear a bra, she changes herself to become more famine but still doesn't want to wear a bra after all because she doesn't feel comfortable; the four woman doesn't want to be a woman and prefers to be a man so she auditions in a play to be a man; The five woman wants to get away from her life, she goes to a hot spring where she acts like a child and play's tricks on other people; the sixth girl obsesses over what over people think about her so much that she transforms the way that she looks in one day and become a different person because of it. I like the last story the best because Riisa Naka's character Ryoko Nakatani spent the whole narrative worring about what over people would think about her that she didn't notice that she had changed or other people saw her differentially. The overall film had a possessive message about individuality.

One Million Yen and the Nigamushi Woman (2008)

The Girl with the really bad name;

Life is all Rosie and peachy or something like that

http://twitchfilm.com/2010/04/one-million-yen-girl-review.html
http://nishikataeiga.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/one-million-yen-girl-2008.html
http://asianwiki.com/One_Million_Yen_and_the_Nigamushi_Woman
http://personal.amy-wong.com/2009/04/17/interesting-one-million-yen-girl-brief-review/
http://ealc.wustl.edu/events/265

One Million yen girl was not what I was expecting in context, one million sounds to be referring to someone with wealth but the film notes from the beginning that yen is a different currency and that it is not as much money as you is might expect. So the film is not about a rich girl; the genre of the film can be describe as comedy, drama where the female protagonist is on a journey of self discovery and is has Elements of a off beat romance which also part of the comedy elements. The film reminds me of The Wizard of Oz narrative except it is less fantastical and the Dorthy character keeps reminding people she has a criminal record. Suzuko is accused from the beginning of stealing one million yen but her character from the beginning of the film appears to be palsied and the accusation seems ludicrous but never-the-less she gains a reputation in her town. So her adventure begins; the one million yen becomes a symbol to her own journey because she feels portrayed by the people around and she then wants to search for whatever meaning she can find. There is a scene where a group of girls who have no real knowledge or past with Suzuko and slander her with second hand gossip which Suzuko does take laying down. Suzuko seems to be stuck with her label throughout the film;she  Consistently reminds people of her shady past and is wary of people deceiving her. The reason that the film is like The Wizard of Oz is because like Dorthy , Suzuko goes on a journey and discovers that the there is no place like home ironically or that she can't run away from her problems anyway.  The film can be described as ironic and contradicting at time; Suzuko appears to be a strong figure to her brother, others perceive her as a criminal when in fact she is a character who is to giving to other. in the end both Suzuko and her brother learn from each other to overcome their struggles that they have to face in their home town.

X Game (2010)

The film with more layers than an onion, Where the Good Guys are the Bad Guys and the the Bad Guys are really the Good Guys:

Monkey see Monkey do "It's all just a X Game"

http://mariannarou.jimdo.com/2013/04/12/x-gemu-2-dvds/
http://asianwiki.com/X_Game
http://wickedchannel.com/2012/12/movie-review-x-game/
http://horrornews.net/65275/film-review-x-game-2010/

X game appears to have a similar theme to Battle Royale at first glance, X Games is not disappointing and it is surprising to find the lack of interest on the internet for the film because the eleventh girl is impressed by the   diverse imagination of the overall plot. The narrative was well thought out to the point of the ending was not predictable; indeed the plot resembled Battle Royale but at the same time it resembled Ringu and had a aura of horror vs thriller. the plot tried to take the prospective of Mitsuko or  Sadako and tried to explain the reasoning behind the antagonist character. where as the film starts off very vague/ general in explanation, the film unfolds spectacularly and the viewer is intrigued by the behavior of the supposed villainous character . The villainous character has clear mental issues that are revealed to be triggered by being abused by the character which the audience assume to be innocent people at the beginning of the film. the difference with Battle Royale and X game is that Mitsuko is demonized as a character but Rikako Myojin has a explanation towards her behavior which the audience can sympathies towards even if She is cruel in her methods. The film was commenting about human nature , bullying more than Battle Royale did. To explain further Hideaki Kokubo seems like a innocent character through out the film , who has simplify towards Ritako Myoijin character but  he turns out to be as guilty as all the other characters that she punishes along the way; Like Battle Royale all of the character turn against each other in the end but unlike Battle Royale the plot has more drive and unlikely plot turns which the viewer is surprised to discover that Hideaki Kokubo's girlfriend is the psychotic girl ; but never-the-less the viewer has an more interesting ride on the prospective of the twist and turns of good versus evil as the plot thinned to reveal that people are far more complicated than being one dimensional characters.

Battle Royale and Ringu will always remain classical influential film but X Games deserves to classed as a contravention film because it keeps the viewer intrigued. Symbolism or imagery at the beginning of the film that makes no sense eventually becomes clear to the audience; There where some unnecessary moment though, with the mount to flashbacks going on in the film it seamed a little unnecessary for Tadashi Ishimatsu to explain the plot to Hideaki Kokubo and the film was a little sarcastic so it was hard to take it seriously at times because of the over acting. it is clear that all of the other character that are being punished along side Hideaki Kokubo don't care about one another and are getting a thrill out of the whole situation like they are attending a S&M party but Hideadi Kokubo takes to each situation like the hero. basically one of the main differences difference between Battle Royale and X Games is; the the plot in Battle Royale is here is the Good guys and here are the bad guys so it would makes sense that the good guys should win buy if you read the novel or manga you know that the story is far more complicated. on the other hand each character in the X Game has there positive and negative characteristics revealed so it depends on the prospective of the viewer to decide the morality of the whole situation. The ending of the film was a good chose but still Hideaki Kokubo's character still remained on the fence and His characteristics can only be described as stupid or oblivious .