Zíza

Once again we are in a school where bullying is rampant. This time, however, change comes from below, as well as from without. From below in the form of Haruna Tsubame, who is the typical female lead of such shows – clueless, annoying you at how long it takes her to make up her mind or speak/act. But we get her in the form of the lovely Hirose Suzu, so it's not too bad, although I did find myself rolling my eyes. Of course, from the outside comes Kei, played by Kamiki Ryūnosuke, and that's exactly the element that saves the series at the beginning, only to be aided in the rescue by Platinum – a group of the richest bastards with consciences and their own aches and pains (Mamiya Shōtarō, Sugisaki Hana, to name a few). It's exactly what it promises – we climb the school stairs to solve someone's problem on each one and conquer the entire staircase. Basically, no one here is explicitly a villain, but at the same time, no one here is explicitly a saint (unless you count Haruna as the classic stereotypical heroine). In the end, it's a nice series (slightly above average as far as school settings go). But if you watch this one before the others with similar themes, I wouldn't be surprised if you fall in love with it. Kamiki's character is a big plus and asset, not to mention the fact that he's constantly making fun of the main character, pretending to keep his distance but at the same time enjoying it all – and Kamiki just plays it well. It wouldn't have worked without him. Despite some cliched, almost embarrassing scenes, a better 3 stars.

I like these slightly naive and sentimental movies. As long as everything is in moderation, of course. Here it went beyond that measure at times, as well as the fact that the running time felt a bit longer than it needed to be, but I still enjoyed the film. Plus, if you like the development of space exploration, this will tug at your emotional heartstrings even more than it does for the average viewer. A weak 4 stars.

Nice movie, impressive music, instead of Abe no Senmei I saw Poirot. Interesting subject matter, after all, Abe no Senmei was an interesting figure in the Imperial Court. Overlong footage, but I noticed that the director has problems with that all the time. Nomura Mansaie's "ceremonial dance" at the end was very successful, I couldn't take my eyes off him. But otherwise just a nice film with Sanada's insanely awesome laugh.

My friends ask me what Chappie was like, so I'll post here on FilmBooster what I usually tell everyone: Not great. Apparently the director tried hard to make another District 9, only with robots, and it didn't work out so well. There's too much violence for my taste, especially violence against Chappie himself (not just physical, but psychological as well). Apparently, to make it less drastic, the director added some comic elements, in which he makes the robot a gangster. Unfortunately, it was funny only once; after that I found it rather awkward. Another problem was that Chappie is a film where there isn't a single likable character I could relate to – I hated them all, even Chappie himself (that is, only from the middle of the film; he was just a cute little kid at the beginning). The action was okay, Hugh Jackman as the bad guy was for me a role I've never seen him in before, so more or less a nice bonus. He played the maniac pretty convincingly. Unfortunately, I felt that the already rather contradictory film ended as if someone had pulled it out of their hat (I would say “out of their ass" to my friends, but I won't use such foul language here!). Apparently they don't have hospitals in Johannesburg. It has logical flaws; it has no hero. From a feeling point of view, I absolutely disliked the film (I kept telling myself that this is wrong, it's not supposed to be like this). Don't let the kids see it, show them Short Circuit instead.

It was a delight to see lots of familiar faces from Asia (even the Joseph guy made me outrageously happy, not to mention the two on the plane). Lots of individuality is perfect. But then again, there are the opposite little things that leave a bad taste on the tongue – for example, right at the opening, when Kuroki Meisa jumps off the roof, it's so obvious that she's safe that it hurt, and I thought: "Well, Ziza, welcome to a B-movie." In the end, it wasn't terrible, but I can't say I was thrilled after watching it either. Basically, other than the aforementioned, there's not much to have reservations about here. It's just that it was so bland; they failed to convey any proper emotions to the audience, be it tension, regret, or playful hilarity. They may have felt it, but it didn't reach the viewer. And because the film was this tone-deaf, I can't go any higher with my rating. For fans of the prequel – there is some similarity, but the story is somewhere else. Oh, and I don't understand how I could forget it, I saw the version with Japanese dubbing... sometimes it just was :´-D

So this is the drama that made everyone pee their pants in bliss? It's impersonal, cold, both of them deserve to be slapped. I liked the character of the detective and the sister of the accused the best – there seemed to be some character to them. But otherwise it's like walking through a fog. It might feel nice at first, coming out of the warmth of your home, but as time goes on you realize you can't actually see anything and you feel the same thing all the time. No twist. Nothing to delight you. It's a film about how manipulation, callousness, and emotional apathy win out. Is that a reflection of the US? Europe? The world? When I think about it that way, it's disgusting. But that's about the only emotion the film evoked in me. Otherwise, nothing. A blank void. In the fog. But it's shot with precision, no question.

One and a half stars for the animation and music. It's just the best thing in the series. The rest of it just sucked. Occasionally it did have an interesting moment that was worth the crap around it, but overall it's more of a waste of time. Unless you like unnecessary fan service, clichés, bad writing (which tries to rip off the likes of Evangelion, Code Geass, Macross, or Utena), characters that pretend to have depth but end up being a hodgepodge of extracts of "successful aspects from other anime" (we’re shouting out to Shuo, Inori, and Gai in particular). It's possible to enjoy it, but you have to expect absolutely nothing, and above all you mustn't overthink it. A mishmash of all sorts of things with nice animation but subpar flow (and characters you want to murder).

Long shots of everything moving or not moving; but oddly enough I enjoyed the scenes here, I wanted to watch and enjoy them. I was intrigued that the camera didn't move; each time the shot changed it just jumped elsewhere, but it never moved an inch (unless you count the clouding of the wind, when the "holder" couldn’t stay still). Only during the "memory" shots was the camera allowed to move, to shake. Otherwise, it was as if it wasn't even there – the film had no camera, so it felt like I was simply peering through a window into the unknown. Once again, you can feel Tsubokawa's spirit in the film – a nostalgic sigh for the past, piano tuning and melancholy. The setting itself is also interesting, as we peer into a village that in a few (decades) years will be deserted, as all its inhabitants are now pensioners. That's why the clearing out of the old school, long disused, is so painful for its headmaster, and not only for him. This pain, the sigh "for the golden old days", is very palpable and I believe it is mainly due to the camera. Of course, even the few actors who appear here are very skilled and know how to play their part. It's a no-nonsense film with the great Nishijima Hidetoshi.

I've seen a documentary filmed in a similar way, so the 12 years of filming wasn't particularly overwhelming for me, it's just that the documentary left a much bigger mark on me than this. I kind of watched it, these strangers' lives, and felt nothing at all, no closeness, no empathy, nothing. It's not bad, but it's just a bit too long of a blank. Sure, a beautiful example of the "from life" genre, but I've seen better ones like this. That's why it's nothing special or surprising to me, nothing that would knock me on my ass and nominate it for an Oscar.

Positives? A well-written script in which the characters have depth, their own minds, and they are not carbon copies. Katori Shingo, who portrayed Eiji perfectly – he really impressed me with his performance that I immediately had to go find something else with him in it. Not to mention that despite his subtle submissiveness, he had a very interesting personality and beautifully shows the Japanese mindset of form over substance (if I went into detail I would have already spoiled it, but it has to do with Mio and her operation). Not to mention that he's well supported by Matsuda Shōta, and not only is he nice to look at, but he can actually act here. :-) A very nice series full of family love (I just can't say maternal, but it's very similar), friendship, and in the end, the lover's love that made all this possible. A series that definitely has something to say.