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.

   

Yogi Bear Wins Children's Hearts (But Not Mine)

Date of screening - 29 January 2011
Cinema - Greenbelt 3, Makati
Rotting Tomatoes - 14%
My Rating - 3/10 just because the kids watching had fun with the movie

     When I was a kid, I loved to watch re-runs of Yogi Bear.  The cartoons then was by Hanna-Barbera, and hey, there's a studio in our city called Fil-Cartoons which supplies the animation to Hanna-Barbera but I haven't seen their signage in years.  I think it closed already.

     Yogi Bear is a dear reminder of my happy childhood years. I used to sing it's theme song, "Yogi Bear is smarter than the average bear; Yogi Bear is always in the Ranger's hair," or something like that.  But much as I used to laugh hard at Yogi's basket-snatching tactics, it was Boo-Boo who always had an impression on me.  He doesn't claim he's smarter than the average bear like Yogi does but he's the voice of reason...He's also very patient with Yogi and his not-so-successful tricks.  So, when I heard that Yogi Bear's made into a film, I was kinda happy, but then again, I was not expecting too much from the movie.  After all, I am not a kid anymore.

     So, I watched Yogi Bear last Saturday; it was a toss between Love and Other Drugs, The Green Hornet, The Tourist and one other film that I totally missed out the title.  I didn't want to see St. Angelina and Johnny Depp...neither did I want to watch Jake and Anne.  I would have picked The Green Hornet, again, but that would be like stalking Jay Chou, right?  So, I settled with something that would at least make me reminisce about my childhood so I picked Yogi Bear.  Well, I was hoping to see Tangled but it was not yet in theaters last week, so I had to sit through Yogi Bear.

     I was surprised to learn that Boo-Boo was voiced by Justin Timberlake...did they auto-tune him to make him sound like Boo-Boo?  Both he and Dan Aykroyd sounded just like Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo from the golden days of yore.  Also, I was amused to see Anna Faris from the Scary Movie series.  I was half-hoping that Toshio and Samara would come out from their hiding hole, too.  Hahaha.

     At the theaters, I was so baffled at the sheer number of people who watched the movie.  While the theater was smallish in size, it was 2/3 full.  There were about a hundred people in there, perhaps more, and definitely more than the number who watched The Green Hornet the other weekend.  Heehee.  But they're mostly made up of kids with their reluctant parents in tow.

     If I were to say that the movie sucks, the kids watching in the theater would throw their popcorns at me,and yell for their parents to beat me up.  Really.  The kids enjoyed the movie.  It was a  no-brainer; it was made for little kids, especially those in pre-school.  So, don't you adults try to understand the shenanigans of the film.  It was not made for you after all.  Personally, I found myself kinda enjoying it because the kids were definitely having great fun.  I was surrounded by kids and I could hear them say, "Daddy, daddy, look!  It's so funny!  Hahaha! [enter narration of the child  here]."  By the end of the movie, I was like, well, I got what I deserved.  I wanted to watch a kid's movie so I shouldn't complain; but really, I was at least smiling at times, and laughing at one point (because of the cute kiddies who were totally engrossed).  And, the kids clapped after the movie.  It was a collective clap and no one told them to do it.  So, the kids have spoken: Yogi and Boo-Boo for the win!

     Sometimes, you really need to realize that not all films are made for people of all ages.  But you may just argue that Hayao Miyazaki has great success with Ponyo and a string of perhaps some of the greatest movies ever made: Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro and Grave of the Fireflies.  Just like Pixar's Toy Story 3 which  not only slayed at the box office but likewise earned critical recognition.  Well, Miyazaki is a master after all, and John Lasseter is always inspired by Master Miyazaki's divine creations.  So, Yogi Bear may not have an excuse for having a storyline that might have been tolerable in a five-minute mini-episode of the original cartoons but not in a full-length movie.  But hey, the kids in the theater disagreed and had a grand ole time.  Who am I to argue?

My Love for Movies, Falling in Love with Jay Chou, and The Green Hornet, in No Particular Order

Date of screening - 22 January 2011
Cinema - Greenbelt 3, Makati
Rotting Tomatoes - 45%
My Rating - 6/10

     One of my many varied interests, aside from watching animes, asian tv series, reading manga and picture-less books (ha!) and travelling, I also love to watch movies.  Yup, in fact, every week, I go to the theaters to watch anything that's being shown.  I am not particularly choosy when it comes to watching movies at the theaters.  I mean, if all movies showing within a certain week suck, I’d just choose the least crappy one.  It’s just like choosing the lesser evil.  Hahaha.  While I may be an easy sell as to  movies shown on the big screen, I am more discerning when watching movies on DVD.  I mean, with DVDs, I have the choice to watch movies that really appeals to me, so why the heck would I endure watching something I don't really like?

     So, what made me want to put up a blog regarding movies, aside from my love of movies?  Well, let’s just say that I watched The Green Hornet the other Saturday, and I was really impressed by Jay Chou who played Kato.  He seemed so cool!  In fact, I think that I fell in love with him.  Lol!  I was so affected by his on screen charisma that my heart started pumping hard!  Doki-doki.  It has never happened to me before,and I was really confused.  So, I thought, I should chronicle about those unexpected "moments."   Then, it occurred to me, why not start a blog and make my views known?  I am not a film critic, though; I just love movies.  And since I watch a movie every single week, I might as well write down my views about the movies I saw.  In plain language, it just means, "I want to express how much I fell in love with Jay Chou just by watching The Green Hornet but so as not to look like a crazed fan-girl, I'd start a movie review /reaction blog..." LOL!

     Well, what better way to start my blog than by writing about The Green Hornet?  (You had it coming, didn't you?)  I mean, it had received some bad and sometimes even pretty scathing reviews.  So, what are my thoughts about it? (Another excuse just to talk about Jay Chou?  Heh.) 

     While admittedly, the film had lots of flaws, I was still highly entertained.  I mean, I know the film was less than stellar; in fact, it was not so good as a whole.  I wonder how did that ever happen with Michel Gondry who directed the masterpiece, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (anyone who could make me like Jim Carrey must be a genius).  However, despite the ho-hum, The Green Hornet has a lot to offer in terms of comedy. The movie is still palatable, not only because I was smitten by Jay Chou, but because the film is funny!  Perhaps not Superbad  funny (it was co-written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, too, just like The Green Hornet) or Kick Ass funny, but it is still funny!

     ‘Fess up: you who watched The Green Hornet laughed so hard at the opening scene…if not, you rolled in laughter silently.  I mean, the genius of Christoph Waltz, as Chudnofsky, the vain villain whose name no one could pronounce, showed through while he was being dissed by the new-villain-on-the block, a.k.a. Crystal Clear played by the brooding James Franco who was equally delightfully funny in that scene.  Lest you forgot, Jame Franco starred opposite Seth Rogen in the weeds movie, Pineapple Express, as well as in the short-lived tv series, Freaks and Greeks.  So, he has street cred when it comes to comedies.

    Chudnofsky and his double-barreled gun.

     As for the character conceptualization, I can empathize with the haters of this movie; The Green Hornet, Britt Reid, was made to look like a rich, good-for-nothing party boy who is always in trouble and always in the center of every party in town; just like Paris Hilton.  In fact, Rogen even said that the character was patterned about the blond heiress.  Well, isn’t The Green Hornet a superhero? So why did Rogen portray Britt Reid as a male Paris Hilton bot in the movie? 

 

     I guess, Rogen wanted to break the hero mold; perhaps, he wanted to humanize the Green Hornet.  The Green Hornet is a human after all, and as a human, isn't he subject to the same follies and weaknesses of mankind? Must all heroes start out as geeks, goody-goody, wimpy,or holier-than-thou?  Don't we want to cheer on the prodigal son who found his way back?  Hmm...

     Oh well, I know the movie was not easy for some to digest, but really, it had its share of highs.  The highs, namely, the Black Beauty, the charming, good looking, human swiss army knife called Kato, played by Asian superstar, Jay Chou, the brotherhood and the not-so-subtle bromance between Kato and Reid, Chudnofsky, Gangsta's Paradise, and the fact that Kato and Britt Reid stood side by side as equal partners, not as master and servant.  I loved the way Rogen made Kato look not only as a hand-dandy sidekick but as an equal.  That scene when Britt Reid haughtily ordered Kato to make him coffee in front of Lenore Case (Cameron Diaz), and Kato angrily did what he was told but afterwards he pulled Reid for a warning not to do that again...with a punch that put a hole in the cabinet beside Reid's head?  Oh yeah, the scene where Reid and Kato were fighting was also another plus for me.  I mean, Kato kicked Reid's butt big time and were it not for the latter's sly tactics, he would have been a goner.

     And oh yeah, there was a lot of crap comments about Jay Chou's english.  Some find it really hard to understand what he says.  Personally, it was not that bad.  There are times that I want to ask, "what did he say?" but most of the times, he delivered his lines in good english, and I swear, he said something in Chinese in the movie.  He tried hard and english is not his first language.  Nonetheless, his lines weren't dubbed.  And putting subtitles would have been dumb.

     While the theater was quiet all throughout the movie, in fact, I was the only one laughing, and there were just about 50 or so people inside the theater on its opening weekend, I didn't regret buying that Php 320.00 ticket.  I was entertained by the movie, I was amused by the apathy of the people watching which made me wonder if they were all geezers or something, I had a new-found respect for Seth Rogen (who's really cute and cuddly when he's speaking/promoting about this movie even though he lost weight), I had my curiosity piqued by the stellar performance of Christoph Waltz and James Franco, I heard Jay Chou singing for the first time and in English, and I fell in love with him in our less than two hours encounter.  See, I really got my money's worth, although there's nothing to see in 3D.

     Question is, will I watch it again?  Yes.  I might want to own a DVD but Jay Chou is 90% of the reason why.  There.