I was sadly mistaken, once I had looked up the full story of the manga (about half way through the movie) I noticed that there was a fair amount missing plot wise - although not vital to the plot, but it would have explained some things a bit better, and that the plot itself was kinda dodgy anyways.
Now, don't get me wrong, I have watched quite a few dramas and movies where you sit there and think what on earth have I just watched & how did they get away with it, but this movie seems to gloss over certain aspects of people's characteristics to make them 'loving'.
I however, cannot fault the cinematography of the movie, I thought that this was beautiful. If you want to watch a movie purely for research on cinematography I would definitely recommend, I just wouldn't recommend the movie for the plot.
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I’ll repeat it to myself because I still do not understand. What did I just sit here for two hours and watch?
Have you ever loved a show so much that after it finished, you watched highlight compilation videos on Youtube? Maybe that’s just me. But THIS movie, is exactly what one of the Youtube videos feels like, but without the context of actually watching the show.
The entire movie jumped from scene to scene without context, explanation, motive, character development…. Nothing. And because of that, nothing really made sense at all. Side note. Why did the soundtrack pretty much only consist of this lullaby tune they tried to make into some sort of edgy score to the movie?! IT IS A LULLABY. No… Just no.
However, I have to say that most of the moments in the movie were quite intense and many were very interesting. They should redo this and make it into a 30 episode drama and I’m in for it. But as it stands watching it will simply confuse you. Most likely frustrate you. And definitely leave you staring at the screen, if you make it through to the credits wondering, ‘What did I just watch?’.
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This film is powerful. Pure art. I know it's not the sort that most people will get because it's not a guilty pleasure relief or melodrama, you can't 'ship' and expect trivial tropey dialog and sentiments, this is more like watching poetry. But if you do enjoy artistic poignancy and want to watch something with a little more meaning and depth, then please watch this one. The dialog is raw and honest and the love is always sincere and painful. Doesn't matter who you wanted the main character to end up with this film will teach you a great deal about love... and life. I don't like using words like ' literary tour de force ' at the risk of sounding like a paid review on a Dan Brown book jacket but I can't find any other words that fit.
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mostly rant, bit of astonishment
i applaud the director for trying to give it a different vibes but some parts feel totally out of timing and doesnt make as much impact, also some scene & plot just came out of blue.
also its still suffered from the inherent problem of manga adaptation. that just happen when you try to cramp 11 vol story into 2hrs movie.
still i appreciate the freshness nonetheless, compared to the manga, eventho some scenes are just weird and doesnt make much sense. maybe i might have appreciate it more if i hadnt read the manga, or maybe, on the contrary, bashing it more.
and oh im not finished yet, i have so much question regarding the musics and cinematography choice, those are something youd see on movie with story like Oboreru Knife (yeah im aware that is the director prev movie) or Puzzle or World of Kanako or some movie with character that looks high from doing too much 420. i guess she did want to make it that way. if only she made the first half less shoujo-ish that would be great.
(oh, also glasses miona actually not bad.)
i was writing this while watching the movies. now that ive finished watching it all, its actually not that bad, except the story is a bit of a mess. if i can change the title, ill change it to Hot Mess.
If theres one thing i really like from this live action, it is how it totally gives different feeling than the original manga. the cinematography is totally gorgeous, if theres rating for cinematography here, id totally give it 10/10 on the heart beat.
((the construction of this review is totally sh1t but who cares lol))
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most people are shallow minded because they can't follow this storyline, emotional acting, different cinematography from most other drama movies ...
YOU MUST THINK HARD TO FOLLOW THIS STORYLINE
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This review may contain spoilers
Okay, so I took a gamble with this movie, it came up in my Netflix recommendations and I thought oh it'll be high school slice of life film with maybe some darker themes. However now I don't think words can describe how frustrated and angry I felt after this movie finished like watched the last 10 minutes standing up, angrily pointing at the screen and rolling my eyes because it was SO ridiculous. I would heavily recommend against watching this movie All the male characters in the film treated women as property as if they were a prize to be won. Tachibana ended up being the lesser of 3 evils but when the other two options were her adoptive older brother and a celebrity that leaked her nudes as revenge because her dad MIGHT have cheated on his mom the standard isn't very high is it. He acted like an incel for a good bit then he seemed to cop on a little bit and genuinely care for Hatsumi but still his actions were so weird at first that I can't excuse them. I really dislike when media portrays the idea that adoptive siblings and step-siblings aren't REAL siblings, I felt so uncomfortable watching Hatsumi's own brother try to ruin her other relationships because he wants her, whatever your stance may be on the whole step-sibling thing, you cannot tell me when he spoke about watching her grow up and a few minutes later KISSED her you did not feel at least slightly creeped out. DISGUSTING. Azusa's actions are still above me I won't even start on his stupid ass. Hatsumi is possibly the worst lead I've ever seen, I will not blame her for some of the terrible things that happened to her, it was clear her kind and insecure nature was taken advantage of but girlie! do you ever think before you act?. I will not blame her for anything Azusa did he truly took advantage of her but the scene in the hotel when Tachibana shows her the sonogram and she leaves to seduce her brother ??? what was that ??? why would you even THINK ABOUT DATING YOUR BROTHER???? or when she tries to stay in contact with Azusa after the video incident??? No one is THAT naive like even some scenes in the movie portray Hatsumi as strong and willing to fend for herself so WHY would she act like that it was just so far fetched and ridiculous. Needless to say, the characterization in the movie was a headache and really really frustrated me.
From reading other reviews it seems this movie is adapted from a manga and I think it really could have benefited from being a drama series instead of being a movie cos so many things were just not explained or very rushed. Especially the side plot with Akane it was so ill-explained that I feel it was something that should be omitted altogether as it added nothing of substance to the main plot. The plot of this movie felt very hodgepodge and the pace was so strange by the last 20 minutes I was just begging for it to just END. There is also a weird promotion of early sex in the movie with one character literally towards the end saying she didn't understand why it was important until now? Some of the writing in the movie felt like it had potential like when Tachibana's universe lines but overall it was just a bunch of over-complicated drivel and added to the overall ridiculousness of this film.
The cinematography was very pretty and the editing was very unique to me which is why I'm giving this movie any credit at all, I loved the use of images and other smaller gif like clips to transition scenes that made for an interesting watch. The music was nothing special it was just appropriate for the scenes.
Overall this movie is certainly one I'll remember but for all the wrong reasons.
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This review may contain spoilers
Just a small disclaimer beforehand: My native language is not English so please excuse any mistakes made... I am also not a film critic, I know nothing about film- I just like pretty movies lol. So this popped up on my Netflix recommendations today and as the trailer looked pretty promising, I thought I'd give it a shot.
Just from looking at the trailer itself, the cinematography and overall feeling that was conveyed it looked like the movie was right up my alley. To say that I was completely wrong going into it would be an exaggeration, I don't think it's a horrible movie. Just a bit disappointing.
Maybe I should also mention, that I have not read the manga it's based on nor have I looked into it, plot wise.
In my opinion, the story in itself was not bad. At all. It's going with the kind of romantic, young adult, coming of age plotline, that I think is very popular especially with younger girls and women (that's me! I'm a sucker for these movies lol). It also doesn't shy away from more mature topics like sex, teen pregnancies, family troubles and sexual abuse, which for me is very refreshing to see in a movie of this genre.
Sadly the way the story progresses is very ill-paced and thus takes away from that. It's rushed and glazes over important plotpoints and scenes that should require more in depth discourse about shown themes, which leaves you feeling a bit weirded out at best and outright confused at worst.
The pace also made it a bit difficult for me to actually grasp the main idea or moral of the story. I think the director wanted it to be a story about self discovery, about growing up and learning to love yourself first but because of these at times somewhat poorly thrown together scenes with in my opinion lacking and mismatched dialogues, it became this kind of frankenstein-esque love triangle thing.
The script... was written with good intentions. Some dialogues had so much potential (ex. a scene where Ryoki compares Hatsumi to the universe, tells he he feels the universe when he's with her; another where Azusa talks about that one thinks one is loved forever and the next moment one is tossed aside) but where crushed by the following nonsensical, rushed one.
While watching I constantly felt like I was getting what the director wanted to convey but that it got horribly lost in the horrendous pacing which turned it from a film with so much potential, with important messages and lessons to learn to something rushed and thus at times crass and vulgar looking.
Now, concidering the fact that it is the movie adaptation of a manga, it's very clear where this rush comes from. So I think watching with the thought of "Oh this is multiple books compressed into a two hour movie" in the back of your head will actually help you make sense of this stumbled mess of a storyline.
I felt like visually, the actors were well casted to portray their characters (even though I think they probably could've changed Azusas bright orange hair to just plain blonde in favour of the overall mood and tone of the movie).
I can't say much about the actors abilities, as I haven't watched any of their other works but I'd say that it was quite well done acting. Again, most problems I'd have with the acting could be traced back to the pace of how the movie progressed. The characters themselves don't have very much depth, as, again, the pace doesn't really leave much room for development and there were a lot of scenes which opened uo the possibiltiy of further elaborating on the characters past or current struggles and emotions but were left unfinished to die out...
I have to say though, probably my favourite dynamic in this movie is between Hatsumi and her little sister. It's a very pure sisterly love, that doesn't get much screentime but is very well portrayed.
The music.... was not good. For me, most of the time I thought it rather ill-fitting and did absolutely nothing the support the emotions of the scenes. Something more on the subtle side, maybe instrumental or sometimes just plain silence would've fit a bit better with the imagery and cinematography.
Which brings me to my absolute favourite part of the film: The cinematography.
If I were to just watch the whole movie on silent, I'd loved it. The colours, the scenery, the way it was filmed and edited (the pictures edited perfectly fitting into the flow of the scene!!!!!!) was exactly what kind of film I like. The surrounding city was very well used, fit into the mood of the movie and was able to support the storyline perfectly. It's a very very pretty movie. Now, I can see that the style this was filmed in is not everyone's cup of tea as it seems quite erratic in some scenes, but I really like this more alternative style a lot.
So in conclusion, it's not a completely bad movie, just a whole truckload of wasted opportunities. They really would've done better just making this into a TV show.
I wouldn't really recommend this to people looking for a nice storyline or a simple love story, BUT if you're like me and like watching pretty movies with nice cinematography I would still give it a go. It's best though, to go in with no expectations regarding the plot or character development lol.
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It’s divisive. It’s art-housy, raw. Not your typical teenage drama.
Sadly, I never read this manga growing up. That said, I am particularly drawn to stories told like they are being plucked straight from memory. Disjointed, discombobulating, disorientating, raw, awkward, missing pieces...It isn’t the “shoujo” trope of first-love-meets-high school girl emotions.
This piece of work ‘feels’, not tells. And that’s not for everyone. It’s not necessarily an “easy” watch. You can’t just throw it on and have the story handed to you. The pacing will mess you up, the missing information will misguide you, our preconceived/preconditioned notions on how a coming of age story is told will leave you confused. To enjoy this kind of movie, you have to enjoy engaging in your own thought process and emotions while watching, and not everyone enjoys this. However, I do. While others have commented that they felt that the plot was flat and not well executed, my personal opinion is the exact opposite. The plot is driven by the dialogue and character interaction as much as it is by the nuisances of the cinematography, which is opposite what we are used to (often the cinematography reflects what is being told to us, rarely does it become nearly a character in-and of-itself).
It is more art-house than pop-ish drama. It is more painful and tragic reminiscence than a love story, and it is more a ‘true’ love story than the candy coated romance that we see more often. It’s like reading a classic novel that on the surface is one thing, but when you begin looking at the authors use of allegory, it reveals itself to be entirely something else.
One thing I severely did not enjoy was the use of Pachelbel Cannon in D Major as a major theme. That is 100% opinion and personal bias towards it, rather than a critical look at the meaning of such a piece in this work.
This is my first review; I felt obliged to leave a review because movies like this - major backing, stand out cast, but unconventional, tend to get pushed aside for most except the most cult-y of followers or art-ish types. Some people will not enjoy this kind of movie, some will be confused and disappointed by this kind of art, and yet others will feel the exact opposite. Obviously enough people connected enough with a mode of story telling like to, well, tell the story like this. And at the end of the day, it’s all just a matter of opinion.
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This review may contain spoilers
This is such a weird movie seriously, there are moments when i was so in love with the background and artsy points (tokyo bg is so pretty at night) and suddenly getting dropped without any relevant explanation. Some of the conversation doesnt actually make sense at all. It suppose to be such a great meaningful (about not asking anyone to love you but to love yourself first) romantic drama but out of nowhere you have the feeling the movie is very...porn like. I seriously was into all the romance and suddenly hearing words like naked, sex, raw, having baby...kinda feels like soft porn rather than a romantic drama to be honest. And the conflict is so messy.This is massive spoiler below ***
The WTF moment is when the two leads are going to spend their first night together but the male lead told her about his dad affair and suddenly she went crazy about it and left him in the hotel alone and went to her non related brother and seduce him??? ??? I would have enjoy this movie without all those complicated weird issue lingering.
I was hoping they could emphasize more on the meaningful side but the bad ones get accentuated more which makes me feel kinda wasting my time watching this.
The only thing I like about the movie is the nice classy music they used.
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it's not everyone, but it has its own charm
Found this on netflix, then straight to IMDB user review. The review almost 99% bad, like really bad. Yet, still proceeded to watch it since not much thing to do at home.This is definitely not movie for everyone but somehow i still can enjoyed the show (I gave 8 out of 10).
I mostly laugh at cringe dialogues (that's probably intentional after seeing the whole movie) between the characters, and confused with editing and cinematography. However, even though on the surface the story seems all over the place, the content of the dialogues are kinda good with hidden messages. Like in this very short scene between Tachibana classmates. At first it seems like random discussion between friends, but it was actually a deep conversation of how young girls learn to use their bodies to value themselves (sad but true), and how men can easily just take advantage of it.
The movie also has these face pace dialogues,that not so very common dialogues between normal people but more like some sort of poem of human feelings. The face pace dialogues at the end between the two main roles are probably the best one.
You may annoyed at girl character at the beginning, but she really grow at the end of the movie that she can said stuff like "I can be happy with you, I can be happy without you" and "I can't be yours, since my face, my body, is mine alone" to the guy she likes. Comparing to heroine stereotype, her character definitely like a new breath in Japan drama. Her final choice may not everyone favors, and his character might be alarming at the beginning, but somehow he's the only boy around her that make her value herself more at the end. I personally glad that she chose the boy. his personality might be not the best, but he said things like, "don't say big things just because you are cute. can you say that when you're an old hag? I am the only one who'll still want you even when you're a shitty old hag!". Lol, so much contradictory on that sentences, but let's be honest here, he's nailed it.
My suggestion is try not to watch this as a movie, but more like a play. where every dialogue, acting, or scenes are exaggerated. Pay attention to the dialogues. Don't compare to manga. Many manga readers don't approve the movie cause it has different atmosphere with the manga. I went check the manga after watching the movie. Boy, no wonder why the director needs to change the movie plot. The manga is so lame, the characters not grow at all, and typical Shoujo manga with weak heroine. Movie characters are 10x better. But like I said, the movie definitely may not for everyone. Enjoy.
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I am writing this coz this movie was unique and caught my attention. The plot summary given about it don't match the story at all. It's very different and somewhat weird.
1. Things I liked about it :-
The story itself was very well written. It's about the complexity of emotions. How sometimes hate rule over love, when you are not able to be clear about your feelings, when you misunderstand something else as love. If you see the movie considering yourself at her place you will know the reason of every single scene in it. I loved it's ending. It was written beautifully.
2. Things I disliked about it :-
The director wanted it to make special or different idk what? But messed it up. It gave a headache how he displayed some scenes. Pretty much everything was left on audience to create an opinion about . So it confused me sometimes. Characters were some time acting with overdose of emotions so it was kinda hard to interpret thier state of mind.
Overall I will recommend it to people who don't get offended easily.
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