Japan used to be known as a powerhouse of film. Not only Kurosawa's critically acclaimed work, but even the likes of Miike, anime films, and more fringe directors. You could always count on Japanese cinema for something fresh, meaningful, and, often times, a little odd.
After the turn of the century, it seems that Japan has taken a turn for the worse, and a few years into the Japanese film academy's award for Best Picture after the millenium's commencement and you can start to see a pattern.
Always Sunny on Third Street, while visually, appealing, is just a maudlin little tear-jerker with a little too much comedy to be taken seriously. Aside from the outlandish comedy, there's nothing really odd or original about it either so that it plays like a made-for-TV holiday film from the USA.
It's set around the 1960s in Japan. The characters don't seem poor, but they are at first a little uncomfortable, having to acquire the technology of the new modern world slowly throughout the course of the movie. They'll gawk at television sets, electric refrigerators, etc. This world with all its limitations and simple pleasures is perhaps the best thing about the film.
The rest are just stereotypical melodramatic relationships. There's an orphan, a semi-orphan, a woman in such debt that she has to take jobs she doesn't want, and cheap emotional moments. At one point, the orphan's surrogate father keeps physically pushing him away while the tearful chylde keeps coming back to him, refusing to go back to his rich birth family because he'd formed a bond with the man. After the 5th time of pushing I was just wondering how many more drops of milk they could squeeze out of the scene.
Christmas hearts are warmed, a laconic side-character doctor's tragic backstory is revealed, and the protagonist silly author proposes to the town beauty who is, of course, terribly flattered. It's all a string of saccharine or tragic moments reminiscent of a made-for-TV Christmas movie.
As I mentioned, the only Japanese thing about this movie is this author. He is silly, weak, and effeminate - very much a comic character - who complains in loud screeches about every little thing throughout the movie and has exaggerated movements and facial expressions. So Japanese, but quite inappropriate an inclusion for this melodrama.
Honourable Mentions: Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I've never seen the show, but the titles are so similar it's distracting. This movie had almost nothing to do with sunsets, nor do I know what Third Avenue is. Why the two have such similar names and whether this movie copied the other, I don't know.
After the turn of the century, it seems that Japan has taken a turn for the worse, and a few years into the Japanese film academy's award for Best Picture after the millenium's commencement and you can start to see a pattern.
Always Sunny on Third Street, while visually, appealing, is just a maudlin little tear-jerker with a little too much comedy to be taken seriously. Aside from the outlandish comedy, there's nothing really odd or original about it either so that it plays like a made-for-TV holiday film from the USA.
It's set around the 1960s in Japan. The characters don't seem poor, but they are at first a little uncomfortable, having to acquire the technology of the new modern world slowly throughout the course of the movie. They'll gawk at television sets, electric refrigerators, etc. This world with all its limitations and simple pleasures is perhaps the best thing about the film.
The rest are just stereotypical melodramatic relationships. There's an orphan, a semi-orphan, a woman in such debt that she has to take jobs she doesn't want, and cheap emotional moments. At one point, the orphan's surrogate father keeps physically pushing him away while the tearful chylde keeps coming back to him, refusing to go back to his rich birth family because he'd formed a bond with the man. After the 5th time of pushing I was just wondering how many more drops of milk they could squeeze out of the scene.
Christmas hearts are warmed, a laconic side-character doctor's tragic backstory is revealed, and the protagonist silly author proposes to the town beauty who is, of course, terribly flattered. It's all a string of saccharine or tragic moments reminiscent of a made-for-TV Christmas movie.
As I mentioned, the only Japanese thing about this movie is this author. He is silly, weak, and effeminate - very much a comic character - who complains in loud screeches about every little thing throughout the movie and has exaggerated movements and facial expressions. So Japanese, but quite inappropriate an inclusion for this melodrama.
Honourable Mentions: Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I've never seen the show, but the titles are so similar it's distracting. This movie had almost nothing to do with sunsets, nor do I know what Third Avenue is. Why the two have such similar names and whether this movie copied the other, I don't know.