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Kimi ni todoke (2010)
the "pure" love story
This is the very pure love story in Japanese film. I haven't seen such a pure story, so many Japanese girl including me might long for a peachy youth like this.
In high school, a boy falls in love with a girl. The boy is popular in the class, while the girl is kept away from classmates because her name and looks. The point of this film is that the boy came to like her personality when he met her for the first time. But she doesn't notice it because she does not have confidence in herself. Gradually they are fascinated each other. Only to see their pure characters, I feel comfortable. The actors are also good and I love them.
Ant-Man (2015)
exciting
A man who fell to the depth of misery crawls up to a tiny but big hero ant-man. The story line and concept is quite interesting. But I have one question that why Scott is chosen as the ant man. In the hours, the reason is unnatural and unconvincing.
The description of the small world is funny for real. Mixing real world and small world, the constant change keeps interest. Especially I like the scene that Scott wears the suit in a bath room for the first time. In the viewpoint from ants, we can directly realize the fear of water. In fact, the expectation was not high before watching this movie, so I feel it surprisingly interesting.
Tenkû no shiro Rapyuta (1986)
unforgettable fantasy
This is one of my favorite film by Studio Ghibli. The unique world can only be created by Hayao Miyazaki. The first moment that a girl slowly falls from the sky, in the fantastic sound, audience will be glued to the story. Especially I like the picture of the castle in the sky which spreads after diving into the eye of a storm. I've never seen such an attractive world. The beauty of the picture is one point worthy of note.
The story line is quite simple, but suggestively tells something important to us. Varieties of interpretation can be considered. So this animation film is able to entertain not only children but also adults, all generations. I cannot find the worlds but excellent.
Superman (1978)
funny movie loved for a long time
This movie has been created 18 years before I was born. I am surprised that superman was able to fly in 1978. And I like the imperfect flying technique. Recent films tend to be prefect because techniques came to be able to realize it. But I think Superman(1978) would not be interesting if it is not created in that time. Instead of technique, story is well considered and so funny.
Superman is so cool and mysterious. We know Superman can do anything, and the ways is often crazy. On the other hand, he plays normal as a Clerk. Only the audience know that Superman and Clerk is the same person, so his conflict that he is perfect but has to be imperfect is one of the point worthy of note.
Click (2006)
very funny touching movie
This movie is worth watching and I am sure that you will never be disappointed.
This is one of the movie which succeeded in complete mixture of laugh and tears. It is not only interesting but instructive. This must be a comedy movie, but every time I watch it, I cannot finish the ending without crying. Though I am relatively easily moved to tears, I had no idea that I was going to sob so much to see this movie. The amount of tears gushed from my eyes is the best in my life, maybe. I strongly recommend. Let's put tissue box beside you and watch this movie. You will come to rethink the preciousness of your family and time spending with them.
Umimachi Diary (2015)
lovely movie
I was anxious about Suzu Hirose, one of the main actress appears in this film because she was young and has little experience about acting. So I am relieved that her natural action brought success to this movie.
I love Japanese movie like this. Nothing big happens, but people's mind gradually and certainly changes. We can appreciate Japanese language in this film. On the other hand I feel it is difficult to carry it in other languages. Actually the subtitles does not mean what characters want to say. Anyway, the changes of distance between four sisters are sensitively described to their actions, emotions, and words. These delicate expression is one of the attractive point of Japanese film.
Roman Holiday (1953)
great masterpiece
The film Roman Holiday had been created long before I was born. So I had known the title of the film, but had never watched it or forgot watching it. It was after coming of age to watch the film for the first time. To tell the truth, Roman Holiday is beyond my expectations, and perfectly wonderful movie. It is so inspiring and words fail me. Adding to very charming Audrey Hepburn,I understand why the film has been loved in all over the world. Compared to recent complicating movies, this film is very simple, but profound enough. The conversation with princess Ann and Joe in the last scene is the best I love. After watching this movie, I come to want to visit Rome.
Back to the Future (1985)
The best travel story
Back to the Future is the movie which completely changed my thought that new movie is better than old one. My father likes these old films, while I had preferred late ones until I watched this. When I went back my parent's home for the first time in a few months, I found this film DVD by chance. At the moment I watched this film, I realized the value of old movies. At the same time I comes to want to watch more movies. In not recent movies, technology, such as a quality of visual clearness, is inferior to later movies, of course. It is not matter. The story line of Back to the Future is much more interesting. This is the best in time travel movies ever.
Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)
pretty good story
This originally comes from a tale of snow white, and the arranged story is very interesting. I love this film. The beautiful visual is worth watching. The clear and fine differences between beautiful and ugly visuals make this film much better. And every actions are reflected to another one. Especially in the last scene of fighting Snow White against the queen. Anyway, from the beginning to the end, the story is always exciting. I understand the concept of this story. Snow White is confined for long time and she has to fight against the queen, but if I am allowed to hope for more, I wanted to see more kindness and smiles of Snow White.
Three Days in Kamakura (2012)
difficult short story
I sometimes catch a glimpse of low quality scenes due to the limited budget. The content is very complicated and severe, and it belongs in a long film. I think the film is amazing in that such a difficult story is condensed in only 20 minutes. However, every scene carries certain meaning because of this. It makes the film unnatural and mysterious. From the viewpoint of audience, they have to keep thinking to catch a lot of information because there are many blind points Therefore, it takes a lot of brains to try to understand all the story.
The position of the camera is always still, and conversations and movements of the people are slow. From the beginning to the end, the atmosphere is stable. The point that music is scarcely used except the voice of children makes us feel a similar atmosphere to our real life.
The Gift (2010)
powerful like one scene of a long film
A world described in this film is not real, but a fantasy with a sense of reality. In the time, some of the characters such as a dog and servant is a robot. There are some different points from out real life. On the other hand, a main uses a train as a way of transportation. Seeing the existence of trains, I guess it is a not so far in the future incident. The mixture of real and unreal thing makes me think it can be true in the future.
After watching the film, there remains a lot of questions. Where is the time? Who is the man? Who is good or evil? And what is a gift? Only one certain thing is that the gift has a key because it is always on the screen. Many questions give us room to think, and it widens our imaginations beyond this short film. The quality level is so high that I will think it is not strange to be told this is one scene of a long film.
Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)
human story with time travel
In a research trip of three persons, three stories go on simultaneously, and all of them are a kind of romance as if it stresses this film is a romance. There are too many kisses, and I don't need those scenes so much. It is better to show love other ways.
I like the ending. Until the end we don't know whether a time machine really exists or not. This is foggy but exciting for audience. But I feel, just before the climax, that the story is compelled to change unnaturally so as to make a surprising end. In that time, story develops rapidly, so we are confused and start thinking about the questions. "who is a good or evil?" "who is telling a lie?" "Is she dead or not?" At last we expect the truth to be cleared, but a lot of why remain after the end. The only one thing we find out is that time the machine is real. It is interesting.
Otousan no tabako (2007)
tobacco is not good
There are many questions remained from the beginning to the end. An unusual pair of two things, tobacco and a girl, make the story. A struggle and conflict of a girl to help her father brings up the image of a kind of adventure. The family and a tobacco have a relation and it has a serious affect at first. The mother and daughter have a quarrel about a back of cigarettes. The father is sick in bed and strongly wants one. Though the young girl knows a cigarette may lead him to death, she tries to buy and give it for him. I don't know whether I should support her or not because what she is looking for is tobacco. Perhaps, the little girl doesn't know the way to help him, so there is no other way but to do so. The existence of cigarettes controls the future of the family. And we can find out the truth at the end.
The Lunch Date (1989)
A date which has never seems to occur
The story begins with an elderly white woman in a station, who misses a train due to running into a black man. Hopelessly she goes into a cafeteria and orders salad. But a matter with another black man happens again. In appearance, the madam is rich and the black man is poor. They are exact opposite. These information gives some stereotypes that it is more possible for the man to snatch then the woman. The stereotypes and prejudice make us mistake the fact as well as the woman does. The surprising end tells whole stories and the truth of the story. The story line always goes with the woman. A main character can control the emotional change, so some audience must be misunderstand it. I noticed that films can change whole story due to the way of endings.
Knick Knack (1989)
make us funny
The film starts with scenes of toys enjoying hot vacations in summer. Then a snowman that usually becomes active in winter, the exact opposite season, wants to join them. It is a little wonder that these opposite two groups are set and adjoined each other on a shelf. If I concentrate on their faces and movements, we can find constant changes of emotions and many things happen in around three minutes.
The movement of a woman's finger are interesting. A woman extends her hand and beckons to the snowman. In another scene, she looks at her nails, which means that she is tired of waiting for the snowman. These small ideas enhance the film quality. The structure is clear and concise, but well considered. I think the film is enjoyed among a wide range of generations.
Fish Out of Water (2005)
end up laughing at the last
A film contains a kind of comedy and love story. In this film, the same scene is repeated some time with a little change. It means that some differences are made in the usual morning. To stress the changes, we can understand what is going on. In general, many people hit rush hour and may be tired of it, while a man spends a comfortable morning with a nice way of transportation. But people who find out his way rush in one after another. In this film, various range of the sounds from that of nails to that of rowing a boat can be heard. Instead of the words, the detailed sound, music and gesture clearly and interestingly shows the difference between crowded city and open sea and the characters' feelings. I like the way of using sound very much. And the ending is a very good sense of humor. Watching these no-dialogue movie, I feel strongly the unimportance of voice.
Whacked (1998)
quite refreshing film
The filmmaker has a great creativity. If I am asked what "revenge" is, I tend to imagine a typical situation such as murder and injuring. However, the way of revenge differs with each person according to the job, environment and characteristic, etc. In case of this short film "whacked!", it is the whole story of revenge from the viewpoint of a man working at a golf driving range. In the first few minutes, some people suddenly fall down one after another without showing any reason. This scene attracts audience, and it comes to question what is happening. The next scene seems to be irrelevant to the first scene. After the last scene, we find out the whole story. It is only about ten minutes, but has a concise composition which is easy for the audience to understand. But I think it is not good to injure people who is not relevant.
Father and Daughter (2000)
amazing animation film ever
At first I could not understand the profound meaning his film carries. Father and daughter are mainly focused on, but totally, I guess the theme of the film is "the cycle of life". The words "death" or aging" are indirectly expressed by using bicycles. The creator describes a very common thing, and it has no voices, only sounds. But these simplicity makes the film more impressive. The way of expression has no points. While film making continues developing and becoming more complicated, these simple and novel films should be evaluated. In sum, his very touching film is amazing. I want this film to spread to all over the world and to the future. I am sure this is worth watching.