Archives For yu aoi film discussion

I just watched Shunji Iwai’s Vampire – FINALLY! – sadly, it didn’t give me any important feels about it despite the LONG wait. Not even Yu-chan’s performance, though I really think having to speak English hindered her usual scene-stealing capabilities. It also seemed Iwai was slacking around with his script, and he just dropped Mina’s role for Aoi there if she wanted it at the last minute because she’s just so damn relaxed in it.

shunji-iwai-vampire-yu-aoi-016

I have no feelings towards Kevin Zegers, and Iwai only used all her actresses as passersby so even Keisha Castle-Hughes (only in the beginning), Kristin Kreuk (all the way into the end) and Katharine Isabelle (somewhere in the middle for a few minuets) fans are going to be disappointed. Rachael Leigh Cook has a bigger part in the film, but plays not a very compelling character, which I think would have been a better fit for Isabelle.

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A long long LONG time ago (actually, about three years ago), I made a rough list of Yu Aoi films I had watched and ranked them on MUBI (then TheAuteurs). Since I’m way too lazy to bother adding films to their database, unless I really REALLY wanted the films to be on their database, I’m just gonna work on the ranking here, like I started with my Russian fandom love Chulpan Khamatova.

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I don’t even… Tamatama

February 22, 2012 — 5 Comments

Unofficial Yu Aoi Film Discussion post. LOL

Has any of you gotten the chance to watch Tamatama yet? (are there subs out?)

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You know what this means right? I finally saw a new Yu Aoi film, so I can move the queue just a little bit. We’re discussing Honokaa Boy first, then Ikechan to Boku… instead of One Million Yen Girl because of the length of roles that Yu had in the films… and we’re leaving Hyakuman-en up on the feature spot for a while… ;P

First a little about the film~
Honokaa Boy tells the story of a boy – Okay, a young man – who ends up living in the small Hawaiian city of Honokaa, after he mysteriously falls in love with the place during a failed trip with his girlfriend. In there, he meets a bunch of quirky people that are very likable, who end up having an impact on his life.

Genre: Dramedy with a bit of Romance
Starring: Masaki Okada, Chieko Baisho, Keiko Matsuzaka, Jun Hasegawa
Duration: almost 2hrs

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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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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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Well, long time no see, eh?

It’s been nearly 4 or 5 months since our last discussion, and I really thought there’d be more people discussing Tekkonkinkreet, but alas~ No one has commented on it. If you have just discovered Yu Aoi (either through Osen, or a random watch of either Hana & Alice, One Million Yen Girl or Lily Chou Chou) and have been hit in the face with like a meteor, I invite you to watch Tekkon as well. Any animation fan won’t really regret it.

Anyway, we’re here to discuss Don’t Laugh at my Romance, or Sex is no Laughing Matter or Hito no SEKKUSU~~~ whatever your pick on names is.

First a little about the film~
Don’t Laugh at my Romance is a 2008 film adaptation of the the novel by Naocola Yamazaki, directed and sort of adapted by Nami Iguchi. It is about a 19-year-old student (Matsuyama) who falls in love/lust with his lithography teacher (Hiromi Nagasaku) at university, though he isn’t aware that his friend and classmate (Yu Aoi) is quite fond of him.

Genre: Dramedy with Romance
Starring: Kenichi Matsuyama, Hiromi Nagasaku, Yu Aoi, Shugo Oshinari, Yoichi Nukumizu
Duration: a little over +2hrs

Beware! Possible film spoilers~~~

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Let’s start with what the film is about:
Tekkon Kinkreet is an animated film adaptation of the Black and White manga series by Taiyou Matsumoto, directed by Michael Arias (Animatrix). The name of the film is a pun on “Tekkin Concrete”, the Japanese term for reinforced concrete. It tells the story of two street kids, tough Kuro (Black) and innocent Shiro (White) living in a fictional city known as Treasure Town, a city that is filled with crooks and the yakuza.

Genre: Animation, Drama, Comedy, Action with violence.
With the voices of: Kazunari Ninomiya, Yu Aoi, Yusuke Iseya, Kankuro Kudo
Duration: nearly 2hrs

Spoilers ahead! Of the film and manga~~~

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Hmm… I actually saw this a long while ago, and I couldn’t re-watch this because I lost my copy, silly me probably didn’t back up. And I couldn’t take any screencaps of Yu in it. I might… someday, take the time to do it, but if you have the film at hand (because you are about to watch it, or plan to)… would you do some captures of Yu and shared them here? Just a few captures would be nice since there aren’t many images online~

Anyway! Let’s start, shall we?

Something about the film:
(From AsianMediaWiki)
Best Wishes for Tomorrow reenacts the war crimes trials against Lieutenant General Tasuku Okada, commander of the 13th Area Army in the Tokai region, and the general’s 19 subordinates who were accused for executing 38 American soldiers who had landed in the region after bombing it with high-explosives and napalm, killing thousands of civilians.

Genre: Drama, with depictions of war.
Starring: Makoto Fujita, Robert Lesser, Fred McQueen, Richard Neil
Appearances by: Sumiko Fuji, Masahiko Nishimura, Yoshiko Tanaka, Yu Aoi
Duration: Almost 2hr

Below, the spoilers~

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Quiet Room ni Youkoso is a 2007 dramedy telling the story of Asuka Sakura, a up-and-coming journalist who is trying to write an 800-character article, but one day wakes up and finds herself strapped inside the room of a psych ward. Inside, they tell her she had OD’ed, even when Asuka tells them it was an accident, they say she must go through mental treatment so she won’t do it again. During that time, she meets a few unique people that will or won’t mark her for the rest of her life…

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