Archives For ayumi ito

It’s day 3 of the Wildgrounds Japanese Film Blogathon! And seriously, I am running out of okay topics to write about, but some of you guys are writing more than one post a day! You guys are non-stop!

First, with the sponsoring~~~

Toma-Uno joined the blogathon with their post on Satoshi Kon — sorry, only in Spanish atm. And since we’re discussing Satoshi Kon, the guys at V Cinema contributed with their podcast on him, plus! A look at Twenty-Four Eyes (aka. Nijuushi no Hitomi), as well as various film reviews… including One Million Yen Girl!

Which reminds me… I haven’t done any Yu Aoi Film Discussion posts in a very long while — just checked, it’s been nearly a year, and it’s been because I wanted to hold-off until I had seen any of her films released this year… or any non-sub film with new subtitles…

But moving on, today’s topic is~~~

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First day of Wildground’s 2010 Japanese Film Blogathon for everything about J-Cinema. Check out everyone participating around the world!

I had a bit of a problem picking my topic for today, because I mainly talk about idols that act. However, I thought I would dedicate my first post to the first ever director I saw since my craze for J-Films began.

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xD

I finally saw Bandage, after being on the “to watch” queue for…  nearly a month. I didn’t know it was produced by Shunji Iwai — same thing with HALFWAY, but we’ve already talked about that one (so disappointed, btw. Best thing there was Salyu’s ending theme, which is included on Maiden Voyage so you don’t even need to purchase the OST) — but I digress~~~ Bandage was, I feel, better than HALFWAY… but not for much.

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Just started this.

My Fake Criterion Collection

10 J-Films Writing a Decade

January 18, 2010 — 2 Comments

TheAuteurs has a nice post talking about some films that changed films in Japan in some way or the other…

Two major consequences of this have been: the diminishing status of the director in the creative process, who comes in as a hired gun, and: the banality and triteness of encountering performers on a daily basis, from movie to TV drama to variety show to advertising. The last decade launched the careers of countless “talentos”, young and cute boy-girl products, yet revealed but a handful of actors & actresses one might be eager to follow over the next ten years.

Wow, that statement sounds pretty negative xD almost making “auteur” films non-existent in Japan, and focusing on idol-pushing films that are more commercial than anything.

Like Acerk pointed out, a shout out to Shunji Iwai’s Lily Chou Chou film;

The film featured two outstanding young actresses, Ayumi Ito, discovered by Iwai for his 1996 Swallowtail Butterfly, and another Iwai revelation, Yu Aoi, who has since become one of Japan’s more original and refreshing performers. It should be noted that Iwai was among the first directors to hire TV drama stars as main actors in his films, to secure additional financing; he proved that when a director worked hard enough, he could get inspired work from talentos. This method has since been used by virtually every auteur in Japan.

Hello, and thank-you.

And more shout outs to Memories of Matsuko, and Tekkonkinkreet.

at Cinencuentro again!

This time around pointing out some experiences while watching those films, which doesn’t necessarily reflect what I consider the best… keyword, necessary.

Sorry, only in Spanish.

check it out here.

Woah, long time~ Has it been two months already? Well, I thought since One Million Yen has come out (finally!) with English subtitles on an “official” release, that I’d give this a push. I know most of you would have seen Tokyo!, Hyakuman-en and Honokaa Boy by now, but we’re trying to space them out because there hasn’t been any new project announcement since Otouto, which opens this coming January.

In the meantime, you’ll have to enjoy these things.

Here we go~~~

Something about the film:
Tokyo! Is the short film anthology by Michel Gondry, Leos Carax and Bong Joon-ho, in which they tell three different stories related to the city.

Genre: Drama
Starring: Ayako Fujitani, Ryo Kase, Ayumi Ito, Satoshi Tsumabuki, Denis Lavant, Julie Dreyfus, Teruyuki Kagawa, Yu Aoi, Naoto Takenaka
Segments: Interior Design (Gondry), Merde (Carax), Shaking Tokyo (Bong)
Duration: Nearly 2hr

Below, overall film and Shaking Tokyo minor spoilers~

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It’s YAM Time #5!

August 15, 2009 — 8 Comments

LOL
Cheap Mambo #5 mention xD

Anyway~~ Here it is!!!
After much liver disease~~~
YAM005

with Yu on the cover!
Happy early Bday, Yu~
Omedetou!!

YAM005

In it, you’ll read more about Harry Potter 6 (against much of anyone’s Harmonian hearts, lol), Transformers 2, Moon (yeah, that last line kills me), and Public Enemies~ Snap! There’s also DBSK concert review, SNSD (which I always get a typo), Bibi, Seo Taiji, Clazziquai, Popular and more~~~

Head over here to download~~~

Dr. Koto's Clinic

I began watching Dr. Koto’s Clinic – well, kind of for obvious reasons – Anyhoo~ I decided to begin watching from the very beginning. To tell you the truth, I was about to give up watching the whole show (first season) once or twice… but the little kids and the whole blood donating episode kept me going. Takehiro-kun was sooooo cute. LOL’ (and he was also on Yoshitsune xD)

I was teary, once or twice… I’m a sap, people should know by now. I love crying, but it’s got to be a good cry~~~ my favorite episode was the one with Aki-ojii – even though the episode titles were… well, a little blunt. It was a great episode dealing with death in a pretty realistic way. I was tired of so many successful operations to be frank.

Acting was pretty good, though there were times I couldn’t stand some characters (including Dr. Koto/Goto (Hidetaka Yoshioka) himself, lol), but that’s hardly an acting problem, and more of a character thing – I loved Ayaka (Kou Shibasaki), though. Especially when she begins realizing she’s falling for the doctor. She’s pretty hilarious, and at the same time she can break your heart. Like when Rika (Ayumi Ito) comes back, and Ayaka tells Dr. Koto how the both of them used to make boys cry. LOL’

All characters had their moment though, so I’m looking forward to the Specials… as well as Season 2.

Anyway, why Harmony, you would wonder? It’s because I can’t seem to get away from my first official ship. No matter what the series is, what the movie is… it always gets a Harmony comparison.
I love it and hate it.

Ayaka is a balancing force to Dr. Koto, while Saki knows who Goto is as a doctor, he has to prove himself with Ayaka to show her the real him, and she gets to see this of him. She’s not fuzzing over the Dr. who’s come to the island, but she’s flustered for the caring and kind man he is. Ayaka is always by Goto’s side, even when everyone believed the news article, Ayaka stood by him (alongside Wada-san) – can’t get more Trio than that. LOL

She takes a hit when Saki comes to visit, and all the guys fuzz about this doctor with short hair that looks like a model or an air-hostess… and even a bigger blow when people start saying Dr. Koto might marry Saki because they have a kid together. LOL’ Oh the rumors! xD Poor Ayaka, people think she stands no chance against Saki, she is after all just a plain island nurse, but she hangs in there. And that one scene almost by the end, when Ayaka realizes Goto is in the boat, and then he sees her – UGH, it’s exactly like that walking down the stairs and all I see is you thing. *sighs* but Koto’s totally daft, and she’s just content he’s back.

I just posted YAM 003 over at my portfolio~~

There’s a lot of international flavor in it… all by chance actually. It really wasn’t planned, it all just came together like that. There’s a couple of rant articles on movies and music, loads of reviews including complete non-fanatical reviews of Ao Akua, Utada Hikaru, DBSK, Hathaways, U2, Madeleine Peyroux, and Michel Gondry/Bong Joon-ho’s Yu Aoi’s Tokyo!

ALSO! A special on the Peruvian film winning the Berlinale’s Golden Bear top prize~~ The Milk of Sorrow, and some of the discussion regarding the original name “La Teta Asustada”.

YAM - Issue 3

Head over there now!