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Reviews
Zhong Guo he huo ren (2013)
Technically good, well-written but very nationalistic.
Technically I think this movie's made very well, but its message is very nationalistic and panders to the Chinese Communist Party and the masses (which is fair enough I suppose for a commercial film).
Especially the film's latter half focuses on the rise of China, and there is a clear message that Chinese people are inherently cleverer, more moral and generally better than stupid Americans who are only economically at the top due to their aggressiveness and luck. There's also a very odd message in the film about racism in the USA, which seems quite irrelevant to the plot of the film and just another way for the film to push home the message that Chinese people are a better people than Americans.
If you don't read into the message too much (which is hard considering how hard it's pushed home), it's quite an enjoyable film of three young men's struggle and rise to the top.
Kiraware Matsuko no isshô (2006)
Just beautiful
A really beautiful film to watch. It's funny, tragic, silly and thought-provoking all at the same time. I actually started watching this film at 1am and thought I'd probably fall asleep halfway through but my eyes were wide open the whole time. Fascinating following the life of Matsuko and all the different stages she goes through and the people she meets along the way.
The problem with a lot of artsy kind of films is that whilst they're visually excellent, the story's lacking. Or whilst the story's interesting, they're just not that great to watch. Memories of Matsuko however is visually stunning and also really interesting. Can't understand how it didn't make a splash on the world scene.
The only reason I gave it 9 and not 10 was that it was a bit long and felt it dragged towards the end.
Memories of Matsuko is probably one of the best films I've seen. I borrowed it from a friend but will be buying my own copy.
Ashita no kioku (2006)
Heartwarming and sincere.
This was a brilliant movie. I watched it on the plane from Japan to Holland and even on the plane I found myself crying towards the end.
Watanabe acts superbly and so does Higuchi.
After watching the film, I came away reminded of how important it is to show your loved ones you care.
A lot of movies about sickness can present very 2-dimensional characters but the characters in this movie had a lot of depth and it was easy to relate to them and ask "what would I do in that situation?".
Eight out of ten.
Little Miss Jocelyn (2006)
Forced and lacks subtlety. But some good bits.
This show made me laugh at points but a lot of it just felt forced and contrived. One of the great things about Little Britain - another sketch show - is that it feels natural and the characters are so believable. Each character on this show feels so forced and overdone and you want to laugh because Jocelyn tries so hard, but you just can't laugh.
The Voodoo diet planner was somewhat funny the first time, but after that it's just repetitive.
The car-parking attendant is an example of one who tries so hard to pull laughs. She jumps out of glove compartments. She wears crayola makeup. Her uniform is obviously a handmade costume from the producers. She just appears as a cartoon! Others are too long, too contrived or just plain unfunny. What this show lacks is subtlety.
Another thing that annoys me is how Jocelyn is churning out the catchprases! She really wants t-shirts, coffee cups, mimics, songs and everything to come from this show and it's catchprases. "This is going to take a long time." "I'm calling mum, that ain't right."
I give it 5 because it's still pretty OK and there are funny bits but a lot of it isn't that great. I only watched the first episode and will give it another go tonight.
I'm disappointed thought because I was such a huge fan of 3 Non Blondes.
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)
No heart, no class, no accuracy.
Ah I saw the film on Thursday night at an advance screening.
I'm not a very critical movie reviewer, but even to me the lack of heart in the movie stood out to so obviously. They had the costumes, the scenery - it was obvious a lot of money was poured into the film. But somewhere along the way the soul of the movie got lost and you're just left with beautiful women in elaborate kimono in front of chocolate-box scenery speaking English (though, like all good orientals they speak in metaphor and offer wise pearls of oriental wisdom *rolls eyes*).
It's true what other reviewers have said, it is just like a soap opera. I did feel at some points like I was watching 'Dynasty goes to Japan' or something. They've played down the side of being a geisha which isn't so dramatic or glamorous, and they've played up the bits which they believe might entertain Americans. Understandable approach but it leaves the impression of geisha quite unrealistic and unfair to geisha.
Well I suppose it's not a problem if one's a fan of the melodramatics of Dynasty, but for me, I found it hard to take the movie seriously because of this. I didn't feel I was watching an intelligent movie - just something dumbed down and dramatised for the masses.
One of my problems with Memoirs is that people will go and see it for a glimpse into the life of a geisha, and they'll be left misinformed in a lot of ways. The movie is called 'Memoirs of a Geisha', which tells you that it's going to be about geisha and a geisha's life. The focus being on geisha (rather than the love story). If the title was 'Memoirs of a Love' or something, then I think I'd be less bothered about the many inaccuracies in the way geisha are presented. It's just the fact that the title and the advertising all stress that it's about geisha. And it is about geisha, but it means that those people who go to see it to learn about geisha are given the wrong impressions.
{It's interesting to note that the Japanese title is simply 'Sayuri' which perhaps agrees with my theory, as Japan people are more likely to go and see a film about a girl called Sayuri than an American's idea of geisha.}
As for geisha having sex, the way things happen in the movie suggests that one can only become a geisha by selling her virginity. When Sayuri loses her virginity for a pricely sum, she returns to the okiya and the lady who runs the okiya tells her "Now are you a true geisha". I went with my friends who don't know much about Japan/geisha and they left the movie believing that selling your virginity was the geisha initiation procedure. It may have happened, but the movie suggested that all proper geisha had sold their virginity.
As for the scene where Sayuri's dancing (white kimono, black lighting, confetti) it's absolutely laughable! There is some dancing before her by a group of geisha which is pretty similar to the way real geisha might entertain; more restrained, inoffensive smiles on their faces, classical music etc. But even those geisha have dramatic lighting on them and sometimes you imagine The Pussycat Dolls song 'Don't Cha' ("Don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me, don't cha wish your girlfriend was a freak like me ...") should be playing in the background.
Like I said though, Sayuri's performance is laughable. She comes on stage in stark white kimono, all around is black, she does her dramatic dance which is actually presented as arty Japanese dance (complete with taiko to heighten the atmosphere). And then ... confetti falls from the ceiling in the climax of her dance. It looked like a cheap LA strip club! This dance was a last-minute addition by Marshall and it's obvious in the lack of thought that seemed to have gone into it.
The accents are another thing which annoyed me! I lived in Malaysia for 5 years, I'm part-Japanese - so I think I'm more at home with Chinese/Japanese accents than your average moviegoer. I had trouble understanding what most of the actors were saying a lot of the time! I love Gong Li but even after watching the scene 5 times where she gets angry with the okiya lady, I still can't understand everything she shouts. Michelle Yeoh is of course perfectly comprehensible as a Malaysian, but with perhaps the exception of Pumpkin and the American characters (American audiences can only enjoy films if there are some American characters in there -_-) - all the actors struggle with English.
I give it 5/10. It gains points for being beautifully made (technically speaking) and Gong Li's acting. It loses points for inaccurate scenery (it looks like a cheap Chinese Disneyland, not 1930s Kyoto), that RIDICULOUS dance of Sayuri's and the reinforcing of geisha's negative reputation.