Change Your Image
oxobabychickxox
Reviews
Like Someone in Love (2012)
Beauty is in the subtleties
Most of what happens in this film is implicit and off screen. The director chooses to focus on a few brief encounters and a newly forged, fragile relationship between a call girl and an esteemed, older Sociology professor who lives 1 hour outside of the city. Though seemingly simple, plot-wise, the brilliance and intricacies come to life in our minds long after the film ends.
The audience isn't provided with a substantial backstory- this is a sliver of time we're exposed to, and we reckon that Akiko is a student who moved to Tokyo and struggled with finances, so she began moonlighting as a call girl after her classes and exams after finding success due to her exceptional, though generic, beauty. She mentions that she often reminds people of others, perhaps her universal familiarity is her allure, allowing her clients to project whatever they want her to be, leaving the real Akiko unfamiliar to everyone including herself- clearly a stranger even to her suspicious (for good reason) and controlling fiancé who we can assume gives the emotionally damaged Akiko some sense of stability in a twisted form of consuming love that she can accept. It's unclear if the relationship was ever good, or if Akiko's compartmentalization and double-life has created the toxic dynamic that exists in the time we're privy to.
Akiko's pimp sends her to a client old enough to be her grandfather. Formerly a student of this aging Sociology professor, her pimp holds him in high esteem. It's apparent that Akiko seems comfortable immediately with the professor, and undresses soon after she arrives and passes out in his bed. He's patient with her despite her refusal to eat dinner with him which he prepared for her, and silently watches over her as she sleeps. The next morning he takes her to school while she continues to sleep. In our sleep we are the most vulnerable, so these scenes show us the immediate comfort the two feel in each others' presence.
While he waits for her, he meets Akiko's fiancé who is also waiting for her. Through masterful and cryptic dialogue, the fiancé assumes the professor is Akiko's grandfather. We see what we want to see, seems to be the message the director is insisting on despite very obvious clues that not all is what it seems (ex. Akiko's fiancé has an advertisement with Akiko's photo on it advertising her services, Akiko never mentioned her grandfather visiting, only her grandmother, and her grandfather is a fisherman, not a professor). The ambiguity of their relationship echoes that of Abbas' film 'Certified Copy', where we're not sure what's real, what's pretend, what's a dream, and who's who.
The abrupt ending literally "shatters" a lot of what we've come to understand in this poetic, soft film. Perhaps making up for the slow beginning and shocking us to our senses, the ending calls into question a much more that happens non diegetically- how did the fiancé find out within the few hours he was denying the truth and now? Is the Professor alright? With so little actually explained in the film, our minds run wild with answers filling in the complex backstories that we personalize.
All we really understand is that the Professor sees Akiko as familiar because she resembles his wife and granddaughter, and though nothing sexual happens (at least on screen) the nature of their relationship from the outset is of sexual expectations. Perhaps this film is really discussing the innocence of what has darker pretenses on the exterior, while also evaluating the darkness that exists within an innocent exterior (Akiko).
Dare mo shiranai (2004)
Crucial and magnificent
In today's society, affluence pervades consistently. If you are rich enough to afford to rent this film on DVD, be prepared to be shell-shocked by these children who cannot even afford a Popsicle.
It is a difficult decision to begin this wonderful film, mainly because it will affect you tremendously. You must have the courage to observe these children, you must have the 2 1/2 hours to watch, and do nothing else. Do not eat when you watch this; believe me, you will feel guilty.
The story begins as grainy camera shots, showing natural depth and stark (although at times fantasy like) reality. 12 year old Akira is introduced to his neighbors and promises to refrain from making much noise. Moving trucks arrive with 2 large suitcases, which Akira strokes, alluding to the very first scene with him on a train in tattered clothes and long dirty hair. The contrast between the spirit in his eyes is mind shattering. It seems that in the first scene his eyes have been wiped blank and solemn, while his eyes still sparkle with somewhat child-like curiosity and wonder during the first scenes, chronologically.
As they unpack, two other children are set free. They are excited, enraptured in fantasy that their mother has cast through her childish whims. Akira walks to the train station where he meets his 10 year old sister, and thus begin their downward spiraling lives. It is painful to watch as Akira cleans his house, unpacks, shops for groceries, cooks full fledged feasts for a family of 5, manages money, and then studies. None of the children are allowed to go to school, but to see these children so devoted to the very education they are not allowed makes you appreciate what you have. The reoccurring thought that this child who is forced to be an adult, is only 12 years old. The thought becomes harder to swallow as Akira becomes increasingly resilient in ways that I, personally, could never think of becoming.
His mother returns drunk, but with presents and promises of a better life, now that she is in love (again). She defends herself, averts blame or guilt in a most child-like manner. She leaves money (which Akira deposits first thing) and a letter explaining she will be gone. She comes back once, for one day, and leaves again, most likely forever. She forgets to send money, the children are left months and months by themselves without electricity, water, or rent. Luckily they are not evicted within the time frame we are allowed to observe.
Akira keeps a journal and counts his money, glues receipts to keep track of finances. He mutters to himself "gas, electricity bills, water,.." etc.. the responsibilities that most adults don't have to face. He has to budget, keep his family happy. He waits to buy Christmas cake for his family, waiting until the brink of midnight when the cakes are discounted to buy them, and thus he walks home alone in the dark night. Almost every day they must go to the park to wash clothes, to get buckets of water, and traverse back to their increasingly dirty apartment.
It is grim what these children have been reduced to. They cannot report their situation, for fear of being separated. But fortunately, an overarching motif of hope transcends brutal reality. Through long shots of neglected items, through the sheer happiness of finally being able to explore the outdoors together and collecting seeds, through the pictures drawn by ever-shrinking crayons, and through the discovery of a coin in a telephone booth, the film retains optimism while simultaneously reeling head into poverty.
Overall, this is an important film. You must, i repeat, MUST see this movie. You will be changed for the better. The acting/improv is flawless, the children are as real as real gets. The mood is precise, everything about this movie is perfection. If you're not afraid of retrospection, introspection, sadness (the effects of viewing this movie), please see it.
Alone in the Dark (2005)
utterly painful to watch
People are killed off, monsters are unleashed. It's a cliché, but the thing about this cliché is that you DON'T CARE that anyone died. there is no character development, nothing that gives you any sort of attachment to the character. When they're killed off, you basically go "oh, okay." it makes no difference.
you can tell that it tried too hard trying to be good, which is why it flopped. i almost feel like the choppiness, the skipped scenes, the filming and the soundtrack were put together to make it more artsy. BUT IT DOESN'T. the film begins with a bunch of paragraphs scrolling against a dark screen, read by some dude that is so monotonous you don't remember what you're hearing. They use that reading to substitute for the character development; for the basis of the entire movie. That's probably why you really don't care. they need to show, not tell.
the movie is quite gruesome and painful to watch. so painful in fact, that the moment the movie starts you go "why am i here???". throughout the entire movie, i kept telling my friend "this is the worst movie i've seen in my life". that thought started during the first scene.
when it boils down to it, the worst worst worst thing in this movie is the character development. people are going to be killed, that's inevitable, but we should CARE that they're being killed off. since we don't, and since they're terrible actors anyway, we're kind of relieved that they die. their lines suck, the plot sucks, the scenes suck, the flow sucks, the music sucked, and that is why this movie stinks.