Not because she’s gonna be there, don’t get your hopes up, people.
LOL
From July 1 – 16, 2010 in NYC
The following Yu Aoi related films will be there: Otouto (About her Brother/Younger Brother) Hyakuman-en to Nigamushi Onna (One Million Yen Girl)
joining the line-up…
Ultra Miracle Love Story (Bare Essence of Life) with Kenichi Matsuyama
Dear Doctor with Eita
Memories of Matsuko by Tetsuya Nakashima Kokuhaku (Confessions) by Tetsuya Nakashima (also at the NY Asian Film Fest)
On Kokuhaku news, there was a little get together for the release of Nakashima’s film, which opens on June 5th, with the actors and actresses from his previous films. Yes, including Miki Nakatani (Memories of Matsuko), Kyoko Fukada and Anna Tsuchiya (Kamikaze Girls).
CatchPlay Taiwan has released One Million Yen Girl with English Subtitles on Region 3, if anyone is interested. I will wait a month or so, in case a Hong Kong version shows up — though both would be Region 3 DVDs. In any case, I need to make a bigger order if I want to get it.
If you enjoyed One Million Yen Girl, you should buy the film =D
you know, to support Yu’s career, and that whole “she can carry a film on her own” concept.
Plus, it’s English subs, man!!! You need to be supporting Yu Aoi English Subbed projects~
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
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.
I blame my cousin for this, because she watched Love Happens. Yes, she actually paid to watch Love Happens, which currently has a 16% freshness rate over at Rotten Tomatoes, and OMG I just checked a 0% from Top Critics hahahaha.
Buahahaha. Sorry, I’m still laughing.
Anyway… it reminded me about an Inside the Gold post, in which K was having trouble writing a review for Made of Honor.
Mostly, I was just getting angry about it for reasons I couldn’t understand… then it hit me. There was nothing original about the film. There was so little effort or originality that went into it, that I started to get upset that the film was even made.
That was followed by a request of Chick Flicks – of course, I added a bunch. Good and Bad, and the Guilty Pleasures, because that’s what was asked… which brings me back to now. I just got to see (500) Days of Summer, which you could say it’s one of those “hipster” films, but in reality it’s a romantic comedy. The movie is good, I liked it a lot… in fact, I can’t wait to get it on DVD xD It’s a not-a-love-story, and it’s sort of a chick flick, I think – and it’s good. So I don’t think it’s a doomed genre, there’s just a lot of crap around the genre for you to take seriously the really good ones.
In reality, Action films should suffer from the same. There’s a lot of crap action films out there that outnumber the really good action films. You can just say “oh, it’s another mindless action film.” but it still has a better tone to it than saying “it’s a chick flick.” – that simply sounds negative, without having the intention to.
I made a list of films by themes, and one of them was the “chick-centric” theme – it contained some really good films with female protagonists as mothers, daughters, granddaughters, friends, neighbors, girls, young women and women… etc, etc. – and from the 3 different themes I put together, “chick-centric” was the only one with no votes at all. So we do have a trigger that makes us think the word “chick” immediately means bad PMS mood swings, put your panties up in a bunch, and make your ovaries ache for that brooding-but-charming or geeky-but-charming hunk.
With female-centric films such as Linda, Linda, Linda – or Rachel Getting Married, One Million Yen Girl, The Guitar, Il y a Longtemps que Je t’Aime, Whale Rider, Hana & Alice… Hula Girls, Swing Girls, Kamikaze Girls~~~ or Romantic Dramas and Romantic Comedies like Shunji Iwai’s Love Letter. Perhaps American Chick Flicks should think of moving away from the frivolous girl meets boy, boy meets girl and they fall in love forever and always stories that they love to tell over and over again, and actually focus on another aspect of their protagonists lives.
A group of friends trying to make it to the school rock festival, a young woman trying to get one million Yen, a woman who just found out she’s about to die, a mother that comes out of jail, a girl trying to follow tradition in the opposite direction. Two friends who are growing up and perhaps growing apart, a group of girls trying to save their town, another group of girls who find something special in their lives, and two girls who find friendship in each other… etc, etc etc.
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.
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