It took a while, but
Happy 1000th fan!
If you aren’t following the list yet, you might discover a gem or two!
Archives For gaichu (harmful insect)
I really can’t remember exactly when I started out the Top Flicks About Chicks list on MUBI, but it must have been around the same time I wrote how Chick Flicks was a doomed genre in regards of critics. So it might be almost 4 years… and I’ve finally reached 300 titles in the list!!!
A Chick Flick should center on little girls, girls, young women and women… as students, as neighbors, as friends, as daughters, as granddaughters, as sisters, as mothers, as lovers. They are simply women. With that alone, we can tell all sort of other stories that have little to do with romantic comedies.
The purpose of the list, of course, was to encompass an array of female character — not only in the binary sense, since the list also includes men/boys who identify as women/girls… and viceversa — of various cultural, ethnic, social backgrounds. Not favoring one genre over the other, not valuing dramas over comedies… just simple stories about different women.
Though I’m sure the list could be longer, that’s 300 feature length films out of the 2896 (counting shorts) currently rated on the site- that’s roughly 10% so I suppose the list could expand to up to 500 or maybe 1000 once I reach 5000 or 10000 rated films on the site.
1. Treeless Mountain 2. Welcome to the Dollhouse 3. Juliana 4. Labyrinth 5. Fuckin’ Amal 6. Mirrormask 7. Gun Hill Road 8. Pariah 9. Bend it like Beckham 10. Swing Girls 11. The Land of the Deaf 12. Sunny 13. Whip It 14. Stoker 15. Maria Full of Grace 16. Breaking the Waves 17. My Marlon and Brando 18. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days 19. Dil Bole Hadippa! 20. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 21. Kotoko 22. Violeta Went to Heaven 23. Skin 24. Raise the Red Lantern 25. Incendies
I picked 25 of the 300 films to illustrate some of the variety (I hope it’s AS varied as I intend the list to be), though I ran out of picks and couldn’t include any of the ‘older’ female characters. If I could pick 5 more, they’d be: Lemon Tree, Frozen River, Late Bloomers, Mother, For 80 Days.
Sorry for the cheesy pun.
I suppose Yu-chan and Aoi Miyazaki are still friends, right? I mean, they were supposed to be friends… though I think it’s strange (maybe not so much) that we’ve never heard rumors or accounts of them hanging out and stuff…
Anyway, I wish they would come up with a gig together. They haven’t worked together since Ao to Shiro de Mizuiro — because Gaichu doesn’t really count as working together, does it? xD And Miyazaki always gets really cool projects whatever they are… animation, or dramas or comedies xD
A regular person would have 8 or 9 films, on this video you’ll get to see clips for 27 films (though a few of those are just blink and miss them, or just a still). I’ve seen most but 6 films, I think. I’m still looking for 1980, and JUKAI.
Plus, this is the best way to choose what Yu film you wanna watch~ xD
[iframe src=”https://www.tudou.com/v/ozVm6oSk6p8/v.swf” width=”480″ height=”400″]
check post tags for movie info. some missing because they’re not on this blog.
by the way, Ikechan looks sooooo weird. I wonder if the movie is any good.
This is my last post for this blogathon, unless I can come up with something on time for tomorrow~
I was reading this post on Japanese Films and Women in Cinema– now, female in cinema is a big BIG subject. I’m not in the position to point out feminists or non-feminists films across the decades or countries. However, I have to admit that looking back at the films I’ve seen the past year, it feels like many (if not most of them) have a female protagonist. In general, I don’t know the reason – if there are more films about women, or if I’m watching them because I’m looking for them. What I do know is that I watched many Japanese films with female leads because I had been on the hunt for Juri Ueno and Yu Aoi projects – so that’s got to be at least 10 films led by a female, right?
So here it is… some~
Japanese Chick-centric Films or with Female Leads~
- Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro)
- Kiki’s Delivery Service
- Hula Girls
- Swing Girls
- Hana to Alice (Hana & Alice)
- Gaichu (Harmful Insect)
- Kame wa Igai to Hayaku Oyogu (Turtles Swim Faster than Expected)
- Kiraware Matsuko no Issho (Memories of Matsuko)
- Quiet Room ni Youkoso (Welcome to the Quiet Room)
- Linda Linda Linda
- Kamikaze Girls
- Shinku (The Deep Red)
- Love Letter
- Sakuran
- Sasameyuki (The Makioka Sisters)
- Rinne (Reincarnation)
- Tenshi no Tamago (Angel’s Egg)
- Wool 100%
- Hyakuman-en to Nigamushi Onna (One Million Yen Girl)
- GuGu Datte Neko de Aru (Gu Gu the Cat)
- Kaze no Tani no Naushika (Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind)
- Nishi no Majo ga Shinda (The Witch of the West is Dead)
- Blood the Last Vampire
- Pikunikku (Picnic)
Of course, there’s many animated films asides from the ones I’ve mentioned above like Paprika, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, The Milennium Actress or Perfect Blue. And yes, there are films in my list that are not quite remarkable… and we can also point out that there aren’t many female leads of over 30 or 40 (in some way, Matsuko which chronicles her life, The Makioka Sisters, GuGu, and The Witch of the West – who knew Shirley McLaine’s daughter spoke Japanese?), but then again… that’s a problem that seems to be common in Hollywood too. Does it happen much in Europe? Countries like France or Germany? Are there many films with female leads, or are they as hard to find??
In the end, it was good to see Meryl Streep (Doubt), Melissa Leo (Frozen River), Julie Christie (Away from Her), Laura Linney (The Savages), and to some degree Kate Winslet (The Reader) and Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose) getting recognition these past two years.
— EDIT June 21 —
I thought this was a great post on the subject. =D
I just got really into Japanese film about a year ago (thank you, Internet) – a few of my friends are really into J-Pop and anime, but none of them are really interested in any J-films or directors. When I went abroad to study, I met a bunch of people who were into films (duh! it was film school, after all) and we went into films all the way.
One of my first memories (maybe 2003?) of Japanese Cinema was Battle Royal. My! What an example, eh? I was blown away~~ I don’t have other memories of J-Film prior to that other than animated films like Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away) and Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke)… which brings me to my post of the day for the Blogathon~~~
The Top10 Japanese Films I Watch this Past Year
in the order in which I saw them from earliest to latest~
only between these past 365 days – some of my fave didn’t make it
- Kiraware Matsuko no Issho (Memories of Matsuko)
by Tetsuya Nakashima (loads of people with Miki Nakatani, and Eita) - Tekkonkinkreet
by Michael Arias (voice of Yu Aoi) - Love Letter
by Shunji Iwai - Cha no Aji (The Taste of Tea)
by Katsuhito Ishii - Sasame-yuki (The Makioka Sisters)
by Kon Ichikawa - Tenshi no Tamago (Angel’s Egg)
by Mamoru Oshii – sooooo weird xD - Wool 100%
by Mai Tominaga - Hyakuman-en to Nigamushi Onna (One Million Yen Girl)
by Yuki Tanada (starring Yu Aoi) - Tsumiki no Ie (La Maison en Petits Cubes)
by Kunio Kato *short film - Aruitemo, Aruitemo (Still Walking)
by Hirokazu Kore-eda
Almost made it, xD
- Hito no SEKKUSU o Warauna (Don’t Laugh at my Romance)
by Nami Iguchi (with Kenichi Matsuyama, Yu Aoi, Shugo Oshinari) - Gaichu (Harmful Insect)
by Akihiko Shiota (starring Aoi Miyazaki)
WOOOOOO!! A freakin’ year~~~~
Today a year ago, I was introduced to Yu Aoi’s work on Shunji Iwai’s All About Lily Chou Chou, and the Shunji Iwai-related Rainbow Song. Little did I know that the characters that interested me the most in the films were played by the same actress. Nine days later, I watched Hula Girls, and a month later I was completely hooked with Yu Aoi, and yet another Shunji Iwai film… Hana & Alice.
A 2001 film of a girl named Sachiko (Aoi Miyazaki) who befriends a street kid, and the things happening around her due to things she’s done and witnessed in her short past.
Genre: Drama
Starring: Aoi Miyazaki, Seiichi Tanabe, Tetsu Sawaki, Ryo Amamiya, Koji Ishikawa, Yu Aoi
Duration: 1:30hr
HIYAH!
LOL’
Well, in the meantime while I figure out my video ripping…
I’ll leave you with a cute CM with Aoi Miyazaki and Yu Aoi, who… of course! worked together in the… 2000? 2001? Gaichu (Harmful Insect).
I really like both Aoi’s work, and I am actually watching Atsu-Hime on NHK (whenever I catch it on). People seem to want to make them compete? Both are good, but Miyazaki might be a tad more known… I noticed many of her films on DVD do include English and even French subs, while Yu’s are not subtitled at all – is that a cause or a result? Subtitles are EVERYTHING for broad distribution, I think.
Anyway… geez! How cute is this CM? They both know each other for 5, 6 years?
