Archives For contemporary classics

It took a while, but

Happy 1000th fan!

If you aren’t following the list yet, you might discover a gem or two!

Woah <3 but, man, licensing issues~

I don’t know what is it about Laika, but Kubo was the second Laika film that I enjoyed the Spanish Latino dubbing more than the original English track. Not that the original Boxtrolls dialog lacked anything, but the Spanish Latino is funnier to me. When re-watching on Bluray, I would choose the dubs over the original audios in both. In Kubo, it had a lot more to do with the fact that Charlize Theron’s voice as the mother and Monkey spoiled the bit of the story, which I suppose was a huge reveal.

With dubbed voices, the identity of the voice is a lot foggier, so it comes as a greater surprise (unless the dubbing had chosen a recognizable voice to sell the project).

I was eagerly waiting for Kubo to open in Japan (just like I watched Los Fantasmas de Goya in Castillian Spanish xDDDD), and since it was taking so long, I was wondering if it was ever going to be released there since Laika hasn’t been making much money there and Boxtrolls didn’t even open.

I was super disappointed when the first trailer for KUBO クボ 二本の弦の秘密 dropped, but it was subtitled. LOL It’s about three weeks to opening date on Nov.18, and this first clip of the dubbing came out. It features Pierre Taki in McConaughey’s place (the Bettle), alongside Rina Kawaei in Mara’s role of the Sisters, Akiko Yajima (whom I think is doing the voice of Kubo xD), Atsuko Tanaka (as, I suppose, Monkey), and Michio Hazama (as, I suppose, the Moon King).

Laika could totally release a collector’s edition with this audio track included.

And I’m like TT (lol)

We’ll be blessed this year at the Tokyo International Film Festival with screenings for Sakura Ando, Hikari Mitsushima, Aoi Miyazaki… and, and, Yu Aoi, yo~~~ I’m so jealous and so blessed, all at the same time.

via TIFF-jp.net

Bless my heart~ I’m the only one celebrating 15 years of Shunji Iwai’s All About Lily Chou Chou xD but if you are too, drop me a line! Tell me how much the film has affected your life~ As a celebration, I sat down for a re-watch and a brand new ‘more professional’ review.

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I also sat down for my first watch of Shunji Iwai’s latest— A Bride for Rip Van Winkle. It was glorious. At the moment, it’s battling it out with Kubo for my #1 spot~

 

How dare you, Studio Ghibli, do that this weekend?

It’s my dad’s third year anniversary, and I’m Setsuko in this GIF.

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Grave of the Fireflies is remains my favorite animated film, and the only animated film in my overall Top10 favorites.

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.

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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~

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So I finally re-watched Inside Out in Original English audio track, and the feelings for Bing Bong were more real than ever. When I originally went to the theater to catch it in one of the late at night shows, it was still presented in Spanish dub and parents with children were still there. One of them parents ruined the movie for me when, at the moment of said tears, his daughter (seating behind us) began to tear up. He did what parents shouldn’t do—- he shamed his kid saying “why are you crying? Is this a scary movie?

Eff you, dad. Let your kid cry, it’s a freaking emotional scene in the movie. And who the eff cries in scary movies? Se dice “ya pasó, ya pasó” so you can calm your kid down.

Really makes me think of never ever going to big movies because people can ruin your experience.

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.

I can’t believe it’s been ten years since~ To celebrate, Studio 4C is publishing a Tekkonkinkreet Artbook. 100 copies (which are already gone) signed by director Michael Arias. Another 292 copies that will come with a hand-drawn slip in between the book. Both priced at Y2980 JPY (at around $26 USD at current exchange rate). The shipping to South America is more expensive than that xD

Anyway~ for those interested; here’s the LINK.

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Kuro, when the sky turns black why do I feel so blue?

*update*

Also in 日本語!

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クロ、空の色が黒くなってくるとさ、なんだかシロは悲しい気持ちになるの、どして?