I just got a notification that the November edition of Discover Japan [HMV JP] titled Watashi no Kyuushuu (私の九州) features Yu-chan on the cover and on several pictures inside.
If you visit the Discover Japan website [1][2], you can check out more on the content. There’s even a short clip of Yu riding the JR Kyuudai Main Line (久大本線).
Shunji Iwai’s neo-classical romance, Love Letter, about the woman who wrote letters to her deceased lover and got responses back, is over 20 years old now since its release. However, its mark as a pop culture reference across Asia is undeniable. In its time, the film made actress Miho Nakayama a household name, and it launched Shunji Iwai’s filmmaking career (and hence has given us: Ayumi Ito and Yu Aoi).
The film’s style and cinematography, courtesy of Noboru Shinoda (RIP) has inspired countless of filmmakers across East Asia who have headed to Otaru (小樽市) or other similar snowy places to capture the essence of the film [cue: 张一白 Zhang Yibai’s segment in Run for Love (奔爱), which featured Eddie Peng and Zhang Ziyi], and the classic (though simple) quote of “o-genki desuka?” (お元気ですか？) [1] has been referenced in various places…
Just look at the members of -relatively new- Kpop group G-FRIEND, who played a round of movie quotes to decide who would be the host of that specific One Fine Day episode’s segment (10 months after their debut). The group is formed by 6 young women, all who were born post-95. In fact, eldest member (and leader of the group), Sowon, was born almost 8 months after the release of Love Letter. But it is member Yuju (’97) who first references the movie with the knowledge of all the group.
So if you put your hands close together to shout out the words “o-genki desuka?” and the person in front answers back the same way with a “atashi genki desu.” That’s a Shunji Iwai shout-out to ya~
Mina-san! Genki? Ha!
Forgive the complete absent from the blog recently (two entries last month, and this is the first one this month!), I’ve been generally “more busy” updating the MUBI (the site formerly known as The Auteurs lol) database than even actually keeping up with news (trailers/music) on YAM Magazine or watching movies and shows. I’ve also been occupied watching Korean shows, which tend to make everyone procrastinate. And it’s not like it was priority-watching, either~ I’ve been watching Solar and Eric Nam’s We Got Married episodes, but my favorite watch and re-watches was Mamamoo x GFRIEND’s Showtime.
I don’t actually stan GFRIEND, and I already have biases. Bless.
Bless, SinB. Bless SinB with Moonbyul, Bless New Crush Star. LOL
Just taking the chance to dump all Over Fence images I’ve found in the last couple of weeks~ Cinema Cafe has recently published a couple of new stills from the film, which opens on September 17th.
Chulpan Khamatova’s FB updated a couple of days ago with a link sharing this supercut of her most updated filmography; meaning it includes Under Electric Clouds, as well as The Puppet Syndrome. There’s just a couple of clips I’m not so sure of, they could be from her series Bashnya (Башня) [Wikipedia], which was a little bit difficult to watch for lack of subs xD
Recognized clips (without repeats) are as follow~
The unrecognized scenes could very well be from Sleeping Songs, I honestly don’t remember a thing about that movie. lol I’ll leave you with the screencaps, in case anyone wonders and/or knows. The second cap could be, judging from the hairstyle and the eyebrows, but I’m drawing a blank with 001. xD
Some image confirmation source at kino-teatr.ru + ruskino.ru
A few items on Yu Aoi’s upcoming film, which we are calling The Lonely Girl Has Gone, but it should be noted that IMDb has it listed twice— one as Japanese Girls Never Die, and the other as Haruko Azumi Is Missing. Therefore, there is no official English title for the movie, despite the book being listed with the name in YesAsia [1].
According to Eiga.com, the film is set to close this year’s edition of the Shinjuku Cinema Qualite Film Festival (新宿シネマカリテの映画祭) in Tokyo, as part of the Qualite Fantastic! Cinema Collection 2016 (カリテ・ファンタスティック！シネマコレクション2016) presenting 71 films from 16 countries… including Taiwan’s Our Times [Trailer], which I totally recommend for a fresh rom-com.
The collection will be presented from July 16th to August 19th. In addition, there will also be presentations at Cine Libre Umeda (シネ・リーブル梅田) in Osaka between August 6th to the 26th, and Nakagawa Corona Cinema World (中川コロナシネマワールド) in Nagoya, Aichi, between August 6th to September 2nd.
I also ran…
My only ever memory of Enchanted was that when it finally opened in Lima, it was only presented in its Latino dub version and I was pissed. I didn’t watch it at the cinema because I refused to watch Amy Adams dubbed, and my doubts were confirmed when I tested the Latino audio on the DVD. xD
I love the movie so much- the throwback, the modern spin on the princess story, the music and everything that I’ve seen it a number of times on my own DVD, I sometimes re-watch it when I catch it on TV, and I may or may have not watched the Japanese dub on the plane from Japan back home. However, my favorite scene in the whole movie definitely is the “you make me so angry” bit because it pushes the movie out of the Disney comfort zone without ever leaving it, and it’s perfect. It changes Giselle from Disney princess to actual modern-day woman within the Disney universe constrains.
All the feels. In here and in the So Close number. And Giselle saves Robert. Most awesome princess movie.
It’s tomorrow, but still~ worth a mention!
I also updated my Yu Aoi Films Ranked post with an Umineko watch, which was better than I was expecting from its IMDb rating. It’s totally worth the 6.5-7 rating on Douban, though… even if Yu-chan is barely in it. The subtitles available are poor, though, but they make do~
I can’t believe it’s been 8 years since. Last month I remembered Last Friends and Juri Ueno, and all my Asian entertainment fever years, which is coming back, I can feel it. Going to Japan, having Kirin Tea, Calbee potato chips, getting JiNS Air Frame glasses, eating tokoroten~ the whole fan experience. lol
So~ to celebrate this fan-niversary, here’s an image of Yu-chan in her Oha-garu days~
L’Oreal Paris has a bunch of brand ambassadors by region, and they all get invited to Cannes; among them, there’s people like Eva Longoria, Aishwarya and Sonam Kapoor, who all end up walking the festival’s red carpet events, just like last year. This time around, they got them all for this commercial that also credits J.Lo and Blake Lively, even though I don’t really spot them in it.
Those who do make it and aren’t listed, however, include Aishwarya, Sonam Kapoor, and the Bingbings– Fan Bingbing and Li Bingbing. That’s on top of Jane Fonda, and everyone’s faves Julianne Moore and Naomi Watts, who all come together to gather round John Legend.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkN38gSytHk
The idea of them coming together around Legend gave me vibes of that Lux Soap Commercial that Shahrukh Khan did like a decade ago, which featured Hema Malini, Juhi Chawla, Kareena Kapoor, and Sridevi… but then I watched it again, and that one was grosser. xD La Vie en Rose, at least, is a nice soft tune to give you the feeling of floating in the clouds xD
— EDIT 12Aug’16 —
Here’s the L’Oreal India upload.
