Rifky Nobu Mitsuki
Ciamis
This review may contain spoilers
It's complicated...
Finally, I can feel the warmth that was lost when I watched Equinox Flower and Early Spring here, even though as the film progressed the warmth also disappeared.The film opens with a windy opening that is soothing but still hot. The location is also a lot of feast for the eyes and I like that.
What triggers the conflict in this film is the friction between past and present relationships; It was only natural for Kamajuro to frequently visit his mistress, Oyoshi to see his now-adult son, Kiyoshi, who he had not seen for a long time. However, because of that his current partner, Sumiko who is also part of the theater led by Kamajuro, starts to get suspicious and when he finds out why Kamajuro always goes out of the natural theater, Sumiko is jealous, and the moment when Sumiko comes to Oyoshi's place becomes the moment where friction occurs and the fire starts. The fire that was already burning earlier began to simmer many emotional moments in this film.
In addition to the conflict between Kamajuro and Sumiko that got hotter, and for the first time during my time watching Ozu's films, I could see the romance in Ozu's film, shown in the relationship between Kiyoshi and Kayo, although it started out badly, but they looked cute when the two of them, but the relationship had an effect on Kiyoshi, who became blinded by a love that has a message to young people that is to forget about love for a moment, it's better to pursue your dream, make a lot of money from that job, then raise the life of your parents and your soul mate will definitely not going anywhere. That message is still relevant today.
I also like the acting of the cast which is really good in my opinion. Especially Ganjiro Nakamura and Machiko Kyo, they can put emotions into the bickering scene where they are placed in 2 opposite places and the rains act like a barrier and that was really really cool.
Overall, the film is satisfying, so far there has been no Ozu film that I put into the bad category, hopefully it's all good.
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Basically, this is about a landlord who spies on his tenants and takes notes about their routines, but one of his tenants, a girl, gives him an idea about breaking the deadlock in life; the landlord takes her words to heart and decides to shatter his tenants' routine lives.
The way the landlord did it and how it really had a massive impact on his tenants was so miraculous. He set up the tenants one by one before eventually linking them all together in a madness. It's involved (an almost or is it?) incest, unfaithfulness, lust, and superpowers; that's all, if I'm not mistaken. The landlord sabotaged just a little thing in them tenants disciplines lives, leading to such a doomed fate but entertaining in my eyes.
Overall, I find the atmosphere exciting, like in crime films, but there are moments when this film could feel frightening, like when we are introduced to the mysterious tenant.
This film looked so beautiful; the set, the lighting, the shot, the effect, etc. were just impressive.
The acting, which all the actors did well without exception, is pretty much one of the strongest reason why this film could be engaging and enjoyable.
There's still more this film had, the twist that whether it's there or not wouldn't be a problem, but I like that this film had it. The twist made this film go full circle imo, and gave the landlord proper closure to his story, which ended with satisfaction.
That's all I think. Thanks.
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What comes to my mind after finished it is this drama should've been less than 10 episodes, because after 2nd or 3rd episode which was very funny, after that it's tripped and becoming all draggy, at least till 10th or 11th episode because that's when the story started to get a bit better and give all kinds of feeling like emotional, heartwarming, sweet, etc. the problem was just kinda rushed when approaching the end.
I gotta say, I enjoyed this, I get what I want to see, Kim Yoojung noona really delivers, but also this drama can't be taken seriously, the material they had is undercooked, that's why despite the great thing I said & they did a bit well at some point, they still ended up with many pointless episodes, the leads should've been in a better show.
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It's still scary, it's also quite impressive how this film binds the tension very strongly, which is indeed successful because the execution of the horror scenes often triggers adrenaline like the scene in the elevator (again) but in a different way from the first film, but extremely intense. It was from this scene that the topic of reincarnation began to emerge, where many ghosts were close to pregnant women in order to be reincarnated.
But unfortunately, like in the first film, I like the first and second act but the third act is very ridiculous, it feels tense but it looks stupid in my opinion. Whether it's because Joey failed to think, cause i think no matter how bad the ghosts are, if they go back to being babies, they won't remember anything about their past lives, and it's up to them as parents to direct them in the right direction.
Overall, still I love it, also great ending.
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One of the most satisfying 2020 asian releases...
Initially, I didn't expect anything to this film, I didn't read anything about this film but instead this film become one of the most satisfying 2020 releases for me.This film is divided into 3 chapters, of course it's like orientation, complications & resolution. The orientation was so boring, actually it was good because we can get to know the character better but it's too cliche and standard, in this I thought it would be a horrible but I am patient and already bear almost half the duration of the film I watch.
When the complications started, i felt no regret to stay and keep watching this film because gradually the story started to get interesting and the quality of the execution has also improved in this Chapter 2. If you ever played or watch the gameplay of The Dark Pictures: Little Hope, you know when the ghost or the spirit touch the characters. it's gonna be bring them to flashback to the past to see the truth behind something, and in this film it's pretty much the same and wow, I didn't expect it, and it's used really well to explain the past of Joy's boss, Uma & Nirach.
Lastly, Chapter 3, the resolution here it shows what Joy is actually like, and it really shocks me, but that's also what makes this chapter 3 feel satisfying, really all-out, bloody, it ends the story very well and Ploy Somarin's performance as Joy is really crazy but good.
It's been a long time since the last time I saw a great Thailand horror, and I'm happy after watching this.
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