This review may contain spoilers
the only reason i watched this was because i wanted to see if it was as bad as everyone was saying. and yes, it is.i have not read the manga so i can’t compare.
the plot is cliche and overused, the execution of the story made it hard to follow and nothing made any sense. i couldn’t understand why any of the characters did any of the things they did, and nothing got explained in the whole 2 hours. the female lead is your typical damsel in distress who can’t seem to speak up for herself and has no idea what’s going on half the time (a bit like me throughout the whole movie) and the male lead is just a toxic asshole who has no respect for the girl yet claims he loves her. none of the guys in this movie has any respect for women and are just trash. and then more characters kept getting introduced and i had no idea who they were or what their role was. it was a mess.
the editing and cinematography was nice but nothing special in my opinion. although it was artsy and unique it made it hard to watch and keep up with things. everything was so fast paced with all the different cuts and angles, it was starting to give me a headache.
if you want a movie about characters who have no respect for females or themselves, do things with no explanation, cry with no explanation and seem confused half the time then hell yeah give it a go. if you want a movie that’s worth watching, then find something else to do for 2 hours
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This review may contain spoilers
THIS FILM WAS TRAGIC
Upon reading other peoples reviews, I had to ponder whether they were all in the right headspace. This film was an absolutely horrific watch, in fact I shed literal tears. Many of these reviews skip over the horrifying events that occur within the film, for example, the main character kissing her Brother. Biologically related or not, this is still a form of incest and SHOULD NOT BE OVER LOOKED. Beyond this, the cinematography was choppy and confusing, with lots of fast swivels thayt made my head hurt. Plus, the forms of "love" shown within the film were mainly ridiculously toxic and harmful to show on TV when there were no consequences for this behaviour.Furthermore, all of the characters were INSUFFERABLE in which they made horrible decisions while acting as though they had a moral high ground.
Overall, for your own sanity DO NOT WATCH THIS unless you plan to watch with your friends for a laugh as I did. Even then, the scene where she offered herself up to her "Brother" still caused genuine tears to leak from my eyes.
And for anyone who genuinely enjoyed this film, please seek therapy and/or help.
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A weird, bad, but fascinating movie
Usually when I give shows middling scores, it's because they're boring. They get mired in cliches, the drama is drawn out too much, everything is just average and forgettable. Hot Gimmick is a lot of things, but boring? Heck no. I don't even write reviews much, but I just had to for this one because I'm still trying to understand what I just watched. It was a mess, but an interesting mess.Story: 6/10
I don't know whose idea it was to make Hot Gimmick a movie rather than an anime or drama, but it was a terrible one. The manga it's based on is 12 volumes. They try to pack the entire story into 2 hours and the pace is INSANE as a result. Twists get revealed constantly and emotions go from 0 to 100 and back again in just minutes. This really should've been a 12-16 ep drama. As it is, characters just instantly have these strong conflicts when you're still trying to get oriented with their basic relationships.
For the plot itself, you don't see stuff like this explored often in East Asian dramas. Usually, mature topics are limited to stories with adult characters, but Hot Gimmick is frank in its discussion on teenage sexuality. It's pretty true to how my friends and I talked about sex as teens. At times, this feels realistic, but then some of the story beats are so nuts that it creates this cognitive dissonance between relatability and fantasy. It's off-putting, but well, it isn't boring.
Characters: 5/10
Because of the runtime, there's little space for characters to grow. They fall into two-dimensional cliches: the dumb naive heroine (Hatsumi), the arrogant asshole genius (Ryoki), the kind protective onii-san (Shinogu), and the charming flirty childhood friend/model (Azusa). Each of these characters has a second, darker side that gets revealed over the course of the movie, but it serves as shock value more than thoughtful character development. This is where the movie format is especially limiting, because these characters touch on interesting themes. There's so much spoiled potential here. Azusa, in particular, has deep pain that the movie throws out there and then promptly gathers back up for the sake of a tidy ending.
While each of the three guys are troubled in their own ways (to say the least), I have to give special mention to Ryoki. His abuse of Hatsumi is constant in the manga as well, but seeing it play out in live action is even more uncomfortable. It eases up in the second half, but that only reinforces the old fantasy of the abusive man who really loves you and can change for the better for you (while still calling you a slut when he gets mad). I wish he was mean in a more interesting way, at least. Characters like Ryoki were more common 10 years ago when the manga was running, and that's for the better.
Acting: 7/10
Like with everything else, I have mixed feelings on the acting. Shimizu Hiroya is the weak link for me, though I have sympathy for him considering the material. He mostly shouts and stews in anger, but because Ryoki is also supposed to be cold, Shimizu's delivery is empty and wooden. He did quite well during the one vulnerable scene. Hori Miona does as well as can be expected from such a meek character. Itagaki Mizuki's full emotional spectrum is the most convincing of the cast (though unfortunately, that hairstyle and color is terribly unflattering on him). Mamiya Shotaro struggles to convey the suppressed inner side of Shinogu's emotions, but it's a tall order to fit that kind of subtlety into such a frantic movie. I WANT to feel for Shinogu more than I actually feel for him.
Cinematography: 4/10
I wish I had enough filming education to fully describe the directing and editing choices, because they're nuts. Dark scenes are so dark you can barely even see the actors' faces, so good luck reading their emotions. In an effort to cram in as much dialogue as possible (I'm assuming), a lot of the breathing room between lines is cut out. If it was done once it could convey the emotions of an overwhelming, stifling moment, but the barrage is frequent. These are simple problems that make the movie hard to watch. If you can't see what's going on, if they're talking too fast to follow, you get confused. It's that simple.
But then there are the stylistic choices, too. You won't see simple shot/reverse shot scenes, that's for sure. The camera is moving 99% of the time, even if it's subtle. Sometimes the shots constantly cut back and forth. Sometimes it zooms way out to the background or way in to parts of their face for no discernable reason. The movie randomly becomes monochrome for its final minute. Why? There must be artistic meaning in there, but the cinematography fits a small-time indie production better than an adaptation of a mainstream romance manga. There's a reason the shot/reverse shot style is ubiquitous: it works. It doesn't distract from the story the way Hot Gimmick does. But is unmitigated chaos really worse than boring? Probably, but I have to give props for at least trying to make something interesting.
Music: 3/10
Again: WEIRD. The soundtrack features odd remixes of Pachelbel's Canon and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, among other classical tunes. They don't do anything interesting with them. They're slow and stripped back and sound like they were made on the cheap, as does the other music. It all gives off royalty free vibes. The classical music here is going to be familiar to any Western viewer, and it takes you out of the moment. You'll try to remember the name of that song and think about all the other times you've heard it. Maybe there's artistic merit here too, but I don't hear it in the original instrumentals either. I just hear cost-cutting. Boo.
Replay Value: 8/10
I gave the movie high marks on replay value because you're going to have to watch it twice to understand what's going on, especially if you haven't read the manga. And honestly, this could be good inspiration for aspiring writers who want to explore the movie's themes or filmmakers to study the unusual techniques. It teaches you a lot on what to do and what not to do.
Hot Gimmick is both more and less than the sum of its parts. It's a pretty bad movie from most angles. I can't say I enjoyed watching any part of it. You'd think that would make it a 3/10. But still, the artist in me really appreciates what they tried to do (even if I don't understand what exactly that was). They took risks and made something unique- a true rarity in the romance genre. If I had to choose between re-watching Hot Gimmick and any other drama I rated 6/10, I would choose this in a heartbeat. Not any time soon, though. My head still hurts from this go.
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FUCK NETFLIX!!
FUCK NETFLIX FOR RUINING MY MORNING WITH THIS MOVIE!! MY SISTER HAS BEEN SCREAMING HER HEAD OFF FOR 30 MINUTES NOW AFTER WATCHING THIS TERRIBLENESS!! GAVE THIS MOVIE A 10 FOR ACTING CAUSE THEY REALLY MADE ME HATE THE CHARACTERS. I hate my life and I'm going to go watch 20th century girl now or a thai show or k-pop or ANYTHING ELSE!!!Just to take up space I'm going to name other shows I'd rather watch over this because I'm not spending another second giving this movie time:
- I'd rather watch Love Alarm Season 2
- I'd rather watch Boys over flowers
- I'd rather watch TharnType
- I'd rather listen to Sticker by NCT on repeat
- I'd rather listen to O.O and Tank by NMIXX on repeat
- I'd rather listen to War of Hormones by BTS
Okay I think I'm done for today. The only thing I remotely enjoyed about this movie is that the orange hair guy is pretty and I could sense the effort and how it was trying to be something great, even though it flopped. Don't listen to people on this site. The cinematography is terrible!!! TOOOOO ANY CUTS FOR MY LIKING!!! Why we gotta zoom in on people's eyes and lips to be artistic!! You know what, I'm done. Actually, one last thing. They gloss over the most problematic things that it makes me think that they possibly just forgot that they wrote the bad things they made the characters do and say. I watched this movie on max speed and still understood everything, but was left confused on what the point of it all was. Only gave this movie a three because it made me appreciate somethings I used to hate more because now when I hate something I'm just going to say, "Yea this was bad, but it's not worse than 'Hot Gimmick'."
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This review may contain spoilers
well..
This movie is very interesting to say the least ? I've watched it a couple times but only to show it to different friends and show them the bad wigs and crazy characters, but the more times I watched it the more I understood what was happening. Its overall an okay movie, definitely not award winning, but okay. I think the three "love interest" are all bad lol, I mean, one CONSTANTLY belittles her, another drugs her, and the last is her step brother. it's all very odd, and the first time I watched it I thought the best option was her brother, because all of the other ones were just so bad, but now I think she shouldnt have gotten with any of them. who she picks in the end is just... not it lol. I didnt like the whole ending scene, it was long and drawn out. it was a weird movie, I mean, if you like weird definitely watch it lolWas this review helpful to you?
What. Was. That.
There are people claiming it's a cinematic masterpiece. I'm sorry, swinging the camera around is not art? I do not know what was trying to be achieved. I felt violated watching this movie. I don't exactly know whyIt has a strange, powerless protagonist getting played around with three different men. She doesn't even seem like a real character. The whole arc is cheap and the execution is even worse. The guys were all red flags, toxic and disturbing. The whole vibe was off. I don't even know what exactly happens in the end and I don't think I care, to be honest.
If you want to watch something which leaves you ''????" go ahead.
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Read the manga synopsis
Protip: if you want to even remotely not be slapped in the face by this movie, read the wikipedia synopsis & characters for the manga Hot Gimmick. It will give you enough context to stomach this movie. You get a general sense for why everyone is so tragically messed up af.Ngl, I only watched this movie bc of Mizuki Itagaki (orange hair guy). I would not watch it again. I cringed a lot. But at least I wasn't as horrified as I would have been without the context of the manga. You understand a bit more of reasons for why each of the MLs are so toxic bc they themselves were traumatized. This is not a healing movie. More like "here's how effed up lives become but they kinda end up ok maybe?"
Idk, I don't think the extra time I got to spend watching Mizuki Itagaki was worth it. If you must watch this movie, try reading up on the manga by the actual books themselves or just the wiki synopsis.
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hot gimmick? more like hot mess.
note- contains incest and toxic relationships. It is very choppy when it comes to both storyline and cinematography. Any character development just isn't explored. The soundtrack is laughable and I wonder how anyone can take this film seriously. The ending was dramatic but everything in between was confusing with many plot holes. My only praise goes to the actors (as they were actually quite good and managed to stay in character whilst filming some questionable scenes) and the person in charge of lighting ( the constant dark blue tint did add to the atmosphere of the setting).Was this review helpful to you?
What is this?
I read the manga when I was in high school and looking back, there were many problematic elements with everyone's relationship with Hatsumi. ** Spoilers Ahead **Watching the live action I am baffled --
It's beautiful, artistic and several elements of filming created/heightened the mood.
That said, the storyline felt forced and the characters weren't developed enough for me to believe them. It is a movie so of course they had to condense the storyline and edit out a lot of scenes from the manga, but I was sad to see so much left out.
Ryoki's portrayal/complete 180° character change also threw me. Like who is this person?!?! We didn't meet any of his family or get a sense of who he was/the pressure that shaped him into a warped teen at all.
The major elements of the manga - the betrayal by Azuza, the brother who is not blood-related, Ryoki's father's fuckery didn't really land anywhere. It felt shallow and it was hard to feel any emotion for the situations or characters in the situation.
Outside of the above, the grandstanding big picture monologues about childhood and sexuality by Hatsumi and Ryoki were just...so forced and weird. It just felt like at a certain point they rewrote the entire story or tried to wrap it up in some way and to me it fell flat.
Overall I'm glad this was made, but I am left feeling disappointed.
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This review may contain spoilers
Cinematography on a different level
I never really understood this movie, until I watched it a second time, and especially because when I watched it I was not 100 percent into it, but geez the cinematography is a whole other level, I remember my reaction at the very last moments, with my mouth wide open I was following the subtitles and at the same time the images but it was hard. the theme is so soft but at the same time terrifying the characters are so strange but again endearing, nobody in my circle liked this movie but, I strongly recommend you to watch it if you like cinematography. This movie opens your eyes to a whole new genre and I would definitely tell my film teacher about it.Was this review helpful to you?
