The Cherry Orchard (2008 - Japan)

Date of watching - 2nd week of February 2011
Country of Origin - Japan
Rating IMDB - 7.2 out of 10
My Rating - 6/10

     There is no deficiency in terms of eye candies in this movie.  First, the almost all-female ensemble are all bishoujo; yup, they're all beautiful.  Second, the film's scenery is just lovely; the old school house, the cherry blossoms, the greenery.  Everything looks appealing on screen.  However, the visual beauty offered by the movie cannot compensate for the slow pace of the plot, and the almost bland acting by the young cast.

 

 Saki Fukada and the statuesque Anne

Do you know that Anne is Ken Watanabe's daughter?

     I said in my last movie review that I love mellow movies.  Yes, I love movies that are simple and serene, but not too serene that it could almost put me to sleep.  There's simple and straight-forward storytelling that doesn't entail wailing, shouting or unnecessary laughter.  The story itself will draw those feelings out of the audience.  Just like the movie, Departures, which I really loved.  I mean, others even accused the movie of blatantly and shamelessly manipulating the audience to tears, or at least on the verge of tears.  On the other hand, there are movies like The Cherry Orchard that plants a seed of boredom in your mind and before you know it, the seed becomes a stalk that is now sprouting stems and leaves.  

     What is the plot, anyway?  Saki Fukuda, who played the lead, decided to throw her promising music career as a violinist and transferred to an all-girl school during her last year in high school where her mom and sis graduated from.  The school appeared to exact respect and obedience from its docile students.  Of course, the lead would have none of it and while sneaking into the old school house, she found a version of the play, The Cherry Orchard.  She and her new friends decided to stage the play but their teacher told them the school won't allow it; the school didn't allow the play to be staged when the teacher was a student then. The students now decided to proceed with the play and even found a club (bar) where they could stage their performance.  Of course, their secret was found out and the lead was suspended for the non-sanctioned activity, and for hanging out at a club (who wouldn't?). 

     Apparently, the play before was shelved because one member got pregnant and when the school found out, she committed suicide.  But surprise, surprise.  The school was not against the staging of the play per se.  It wanted the play to be performed in school and not elsewhere, and definitely not in a club. 

    Maybe, the plot just did not appeal to me.  Well, that is arguable.  However, I just find the loose ends of the movie really loose.  The purported rebellious side of the students is not really rebellious.  The perceived challenge made against the authority is hardly a challenge at all.  I mean, what happened to the musical career of the lead, played by the beautiful Saki Fukuda, in the movie?  Did she find her purpose in life after ditching her violin and performing Anton Chekov's The Cherry Orchard in school?  I have one too many questions to ask to be honest.

     If there is something that I love in the movie, aside of course from all the beauty that abounds, including the stunning visuals, is the camaraderie of the students.  It was honest.  Sincere. And that's about it.  At least I learned something: I don't want to be in a drama club.  It entails lots of physical exercise.  I like it better when I just watch as an audience.

     So picturesque!  The scenery is both calming and mesmerizing.

Tokyo Girl (2008) - A Hundred Year's Distance With Hearts Inches Apart

Date of watching -  05 February 2011
Country of Origin - Japan
Rating IMDB - 6.4 out of 10
My Rating - 7/10

     I love watching movies, right?  I watch not only western films but I watch a lot of Asian movies as well.   So, every week, I'll try to make a review of the Asian movies I have watched, especially whenever I didn't get the chance to go to the movie house and catch a film currently showing.

     As a primer, I must say that the Philippines loves western films, especially those from the USA.  Unlike our Asian neighbors where films from other Asian countries are shown, the Philippines only screens local films, American films and sometimes, British films.  The only instance when films from other countries can be shown are during festivals, like Spanish Cinema, French Cinema, Japanese Cinema, and Korean Cinema festivals, among others, usually at the Shangri-la Mall, in EDSA.  Some Asian movies made it to our local cinemas before, like The Ring trilogy and other horror films because of their immense popularity a few years back.  Stephen Chow's films were also screened, here, if I am not mistaken.  But again, they were the exception rather than the general rule.

     See, I believe that people in our country should also patronize Asian movies because they are really good.  Some were even made into Hollywood movies, but even those Hollywood films could not hold a candle to the originals, save for a few, like The Departed.  It was adapted from the Hong Kong film,  Infernal Affairs.  But the others?  Ehh...  Remember My Sassy Girl?  Its Hollywood adaptation bombed.  Horror films like The Ring or the Grudge weren't as effective as their originals, Ringu and Ju-on.  And heaven forbid, if ever Old Boy gets a Hollywood greenlight, they better do it well, or Hollywood may just fall into the depths of hell.

     So, there.

TOKYO GIRL (Tokyo Shoujo)

   "Even if a hundred years' time separates us,

it still feels like your heart is within inches."

    

     Yup, the tag line I wrote as title is really, really cheesy.  It came from  the message above which  sums up the movie, Tokyo Girl.  Miho, our protagonist, played by Kaho, is in a restaurant with her mother.  However, when her mother tells her that she's going to re-marry, Miho storms out of the restaurant.  Suddenly, an earthquake occurs, and Miho drops her phone into the stairs.  She tries to find the phone in vain; apparently, the earthquake caused a time hole and the phone drops in a publishing company in Meiji-period Japan.  Tokijiro (Kazuma Sano), an aspiring writer, finds the phone and brings it home.  Miho repeatedly calls her phone number but she couldn't connect, until night came and the moon becomes visible.  Then, she talks with Tokijiro over the phone, the present connecting with the past.  

     I think, the simplicity of this movie appealed to me.  Yes, its theme has been done countless times, remember, the Lake House and its inspiration Korean movie, Il Mare?  Yup, instead of two years apart just like in the Lake House, our Miho and Tokijiro are living a hundred years apart.  Still, the idea remains the same.  Miho and Tokijiro even had a "walking date" in Ginza, just like Keanu Reeves took Sandra Bullock on  a "walking tour."  There is one twist, though, that differentiates Tokyo Girl:  Tokijiro meets an untimely death; not even Miho's warnings could stop him from saving another person's life.  In the Lake House, Keanu Reeves was supposed to die but Sandra Bullock warns him.  So, they meet after a few years, both alive.

     That, however, worked for the Lake House primarily because the leads were separated only by two years.  Unlike in Tokyo Girl, a hundred years is such a long time.  It's a different era, and besides, Miho and Tokijiro are destined to be apart.  Remember, they only communicate through the phone Miho dropped in the vortex, and there's no charger that came with it.  Their moments are as short as the lifespan of the phone's battery.  Then, even if there is a battery, Tokijiro could not possibly live past a hundred and twenty years, right?  

     Again, I didn't find the movie novel, but it was still entertaining.  I like quiet, serene movies.  But really, most adults would die of boredom watching this.  Teens and tweens would have no problems sitting through the movie.  After all, young girls and I have something in common: the tendency to see the world through rose colored glasses.  Heehee.

      So, there was this incident during Miho and Tokijiro's walking date when they passed by the same fabric shop, from the past and from the present.  Tokijiro went inside the shop and bought a handheld mirror for Miho, and wrote a short message at the back, basically, the cheesy line in the the title of this post.  The owner had a daughter, a 5 year old girl named Nanami.  Tokijiro begged the owner to give the mirror to Miho  after one hundred years but the owner refused saying that he couldn't possibly live that long, but eventually, he relented.  Tokijiro told Miho to come to the store and look for the mirror, and surprise, surprise, the mirror was kept for a hundred years and the old Nanami, now 105 years old, gave the mirror to Miho.  Nanami obaasan was able to talk to her 5-year old self, telling her to keep the mirror safe, then she spoke to Tokijiro, and said "Arigato" with tears in her eyes.  

     Later on, it would turn out that Tokijiro died while saving a drowning child, Nanami from the past.  Tokijiro's death came after he finished a novel about a girl walking in the future, referring to Miho.  He was about to bring it to his sensei; the one work he is really proud of.  His work was unpublished for a hundred years but Miho was able to see the manuscript when she visited Tokijiro's relatives.  It was later on published and it became a bestseller.  After a hundred years, Tokijiro's dream of becoming a published writer came a reality.

     If there was something that really bugged me about the movie, it would be the fact that no one seemed to care about the cellular phone Tokijiro was using when he was on a walking date with Miho.  I mean, that was a weird contraption but no one noticed that he was speaking to it.  Hmm...Oh, well, I'll just give them a pass, an artistic license.