Zíza

Music good, cinematography awkward, equally awkward performance by Jamie Dornan. Dakota was still okay, but nothing great under the sun. The beginning was really a mouthful, I thought I wouldn't be able to finish it, but I endured simply because of masochism. An erotic film that tries to have some psychological overtones, but that gets pretty lost in the superficial beginning and middle (god I was getting hysterical fits of laughter at some of the dialogue and "thrills"). Basically, it only starts to get interesting at the end, when Ana realizes that she's not very happy, she starts to have her doubts about the whole sex trip. Despite all the stupid lines, and a couple of fairly well played verbal exchanges, it wasn't the horrible movie I thought it would be in the end.

Such an altogether rather well done Western/Eastern mashup, basically 47 Rōnin as a Western. The acting certainly isn't bad, but given that I was pretty clear on how it was going to turn out (what Japanophile wouldn't know that, either), some things didn't surprise me at all, and I found it kind of clunky/sloppy here and there. Just a passable revenge movie, but lacking that extra something, a certain charm that would make you sit and gape. It's beautiful how Ihara tries to speak flawless English, he speaks so beautifully slow and choppy.

Although the series is only five episodes long, it fails to fully engage unless you are into Japanese agriculture or organic farming. The acting isn't bad, but the series just doesn't have anything of interest beyond that. Even though it's so short, it has to use clichéd crutches to push itself forward... and that seems pretty lame to me. Family, good relationships within the community, and a strong will – those are important and the series wants to tell us that really bad. The end.

Personally, I consider this to be the best series of the 2015 winter season. A truly romantic comedy with quirky characters with all that entails, as well as an added bonus. Considering how weird the two main characters are, especially Anne, there are a lot of funny situations. But at the same time, the series has very naturally examined a place in Japanese romance and certain social reflexes and pigeonholing – men make money, women take care of the household, indeed anything else is abnormal. The acting was great, I enjoyed the opening and looked forward to it every time, I enjoyed all of Taniguchi's quotes. If you want something lighthearted, slightly goofy, but cute at the same time, I think you should check this out.

At first I was pretty annoyed by the concept – women are poor, straight men are bitches, we're black and white, so cheers! Fortunately, over time "all men" weren't such bastards anymore, there started to be more shades of grey and it became interesting. It certainly showed Japanese society in a fascinating, but often almost grotesque way – men are still riding the horses, and it's women who are the horses because men ride them, especially if the woman is capable. Sexual harassment permeates the whole world of Japanese society, no matter what anyone says. And it's good that someone is trying to draw attention to it, although for the purposes of the series it's obviously a bit over the top. Still, Sakamoto Yuji conjured up a lot of different personalities, and I'm glad he was able to tame them to the very end without them falling out of character. Unfortunately, despite the well-drawn characters, what we have here is a shallow story that fails to enthuse, plus it helps itself to clichés I had hoped to avoid. Bottom line: a good series with social overtones, very good acting performances. Unfortunately, the main character wasn't very likable, and it took me a bit longer to finally become more entertained and interested. It would definitely be interesting if someone would break the series down from a gender studies perspective.

Fukada Kyoko's acting was terrible, the dance scenes were quite awkward in their own way, as were the intimate ones (there were too many for my taste – why? – Did the makers want to prove they have the chops even in the Japanese TV environment?), and neither character was likeable to me, nor portrayed/acted in a way that I could relate to. And here again we have the old affliction [BEGIN SPOILER] – we're reuniting after x years to get it together because we’ve achieved what we wanted. Why should we support each other during that time when we can be on our own for that... [END SPOILER] Well, it just didn't sit right with me. The character of Fukada, while interestingly written, was so poorly acted that, despite being seven episodes in, I had trouble finishing it with even the minimum of interest. Of course it's trying to do some social immersion; it's just that every other show does that now, so why give this one extra points for something that's handled much better elsewhere?

I vacillated a lot between 4 and 3 stars, but in the end I'm leaning towards three, very good ones of course. The cast of all the "good guys" is excellent, you don't even have to worry about anything potent here. In terms of the story, those who like revenge stories will find it to their liking. The series is interesting in how it avoids many of the clichés of the genre at the beginning, but returns to them again towards the end. Which of course is fine, the ending fit. It's a shame the series didn't have a bit more pervasive music, it would have definitely been a better rating (although I think some of the completely silent scenes get under the audience's skin much better than the ones with accompaniment). It was a bit "deaf" and empty here and there, but otherwise a nice action-packed series. Don't expect anything groundbreaking from the fight choreography, though. Not to mention that there aren't that many fights.

It started out interesting as we gradually discovered the personalities, the vast majority of whom were very eccentric, but that didn't matter because they were fun to be around. Plus, we were gradually discovering why the sufferer had all the personalities, so it managed to keep our attention. Unfortunately, the main character was a little too affected and let herself get dragged around too much. She was not a likeable character at all. Oh, and towards the end, the malaise of Korean soap operas reappears – dragging on, watering down, unnecessary scenes until one wants to skip to the last ten minutes. After about the tenth episode, it lost its appeal and I was only watching out of inertia, knowing that the last four episodes or so were more about seeing what was landed where. However, I can't deny the quality of the OST – that one slow dance was such a Korean classic, but the other two or so songs gave the series its juice – that and the very fine acting by Sung Jia. Bottom line, a weak 3 stars.

Films like this are exactly why I love Japanese cinema. You think how ordinary it is that nothing actually happens and you get so blown away at one point, you get such a rush of emotions that you don't even know where they came from. And yet it doesn't particularly force you to feel it, it just comes to you. The day Haruo was born was incredibly magical. A simple story of parental love and magic tricks. With one of Ōizumi Yō's best acting performances. A better 4 stars.

Okada is great. The rest of the performances aren't bad. When it's playing, the music is very catchy. The subject matter is interesting, the realism, the costumes, the language... everything fits. But then there's the thing that bothers me about all of Takita's movies – the guy just doesn't know when to quit, to the point that I sometimes feel like I'm sliding on a slide of boredom – up, down, up, down. I've had the same problem with all of his films: completely overlong running time that makes you lose interest in finishing the film. Fortunately, with The Samurai Astronomer the personality of the main character, especially at the beginning, is very cheerful, and so I was in a pleasant mood and my interest lasted quite a long time (compared to other Takita films); but even so, it didn't last until the end. I've spent this week embracing Takita's films, and I can now say with a clear conscience that (for me) he's a mediocre director, and his films reflect that. Still, I wouldn't be surprised if you fall in love with his films, not to mention The Samurai Astronomer. A better 3 stars.