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Reviews
Otousan no tabako (2007)
A Little Girl With Cigarettes
***This review may contain spoilers***
The film is about a little girl who buys cigarettes for her sick father. She tries to give her father some cigarettes even though she is scolded by her mother, and even though she knows that his bad smoking habit can kill him, because her father wants her to. The story is set in a very sad situation, but at the end, it gets better. I find it very beautiful that she reads her book to her father, after he decides not to smoke the cigarettes she has brought. Personally, the story itself is very heavy for me, as my father has passed away when I was one year old because of lung cancer due to smoking too much. It is almost the same as the film, except myself being too much younger than the girl. I would like to focus more on her mother if I make another film out of it. It is very heartbreaking if it is viewed from the mother's perspective. I like the view from the innocent girl in this film to sympathize with, but it can be more complex expression if it shows how she feels when she scolds her daughter giving her husband some cigarettes, and how she thinks of her husband wanting his daughter to buy his cigarettes.
Born with It (2015)
Stand Up to Bullying
***This review may contain spoilers***
A boy who has different skin colour moves to a rural area in Japan. He gets bullied by other children in a primary school, being told he suffers from AIDS because of the skin colour. The idea children come up with, which the boy might have AIDS is very childish and express what children are like in primary school very well. Because of the bullying with that idea makes him wonder who he is, and why he is different. He stands strong at the end, looking at the reflection of himself on the door to enter the school. Although the ending which does not solve any problem of bulling is unsatisfying for me, it is a meaningful ending in which he looks into him and starts building his own identity to face the problem. I do not have any experience like that, and no one had different skin colour in my primary school. However, there were bullying in my primary school, even though the children who were bullied do not have different skin colour or specific different appearance. I hope this film can be some helps for children who are bullied, and build their own identity and strength against bullying, no matter what reasons they are bullied for.
Embers (2006)
Fear of the War
***This review may contain spoilers***
This film is a war movie, but not from the view of soldiers, or how tough to live during the war. This is a war story of a wife who is waiting for a husband to come back home with a great fear of his husband's death. She sees the nightmare of his husband kneeling down in front of a creepy Japanese soldier and is about to be killed. The scene is very scary and makes the film more like a horror film. In the middle of the film, the husband returns, which is supposed to be relief and happy moment. However, her husband has changed after the war, even though she does not know what makes him different, but she feels fear from her own husband. She sees him with an illusion of the Japanese soldier from her nightmare, which makes the film more like a thriller. In the war, soldiers kill others randomly and it is justified because it is a war. People become soiled by other's blood, and killing people changes people's depth of their mind even they do not notice. I think this film shows that how the war is horror to people's peace, not only the "peace" we think as a form, but also the peace of one's relationships and minds.
Lifted (2006)
A Cute Little Alien
***This review may contain spoilers***
This animation short film is unique because it is about aliens who practice how they kidnap humans. A newcomer alien tries to get a man out of house with a lot of handles in UFO, however, he is stressed by his boss's staring and he starts panicking. It is very different from other films with the concept about aliens try to take human away to their planet. I can sympathize with the young alien who is still learning how to use UFO, which is very relatable for me because we all can be like that when we are new to something, and not being good at them. It reminds me of training of part time job, because it sometimes can be gone wrong like this. The aliens are expressed very humanly. I have never seen aliens so likable and funny. I think this is a little bit related to Monster's Inc. which is one of the most famous works of Pixar. I like how they make scary creatures into loveable creatures. Also, I like the way they use the end credit to keep amusing audience. In this film, they use only the sounds to lead what happen at the ending during the end credits, which is very lovely idea.
Knick Knack (1989)
Rhythmical Short Pixar Film
***This review may contain spoilers***
This is a story of humanized toys, which reminds me of Pixar's animation films because of the huge hit of Toy Story series. A cute little snowman in a snow globe tries to escape the snow globe and company with attractive mermaids who live with tropical toys.
As the easy songs is played on the background through the film, the film itself is very rhythmical and story goes with a good tempo. Although the snowman tries to escape in many ways and failed again and again, those changes of the actions with the certain tempo makes the film fun, and keep the audience expecting what the snowman do the next. The snowman cannot make it after all, and he ends up in the fishbowl, being stuck in his snow globe. The ending was a little bit rough in my opinion. I want the snowman to get out of the snow globe as the ending, because in that way, he can finally make his dream come true. He has tried a lot for getting out and hang out with mermaids, but his effort leads him to be worse trouble which he has to live in a fishbowl. I think the story will be better if it has more positive meaning that if we try something so hard, we can change how we are destined to be.
J'attendrai le suivant... (2002)
Cinderella Complex
***This review may contain spoilers***
This short film is showing the reality of women (or men) suffering from so-called "Cinderella complex". The main character is a normal single woman, waiting for true love to come, but not trying anything for it. She is wishing, dreaming, and waiting for her "Prince Charming" to save her from the loneliness. I think most people have ever felt this kind of loneliness.
At the end, it reveals that there is no destiny in relationship. This is quite sad ending for the main character, and for the people who was feeling sympathy with her. Those heartbreaking reality is very realistic and relatable for most of us.
The theme of the seeking destiny and being deceived by reality reminded me of the line from my favorite film 500 Days of Summer, "There's no such a thing as love, it's fantasy." I think the woman says the same line when she sees off the train leaving.
However, as just a girl still dreaming of true love, I hope she will find someone who loves her. Getting on a train is a metaphor of getting into relationship in this film, so I hope she will catch the right train at the right time. Maybe she will find the one on the next train. Because after the breakup, the next one tends to look better for the brokenhearted.
Whacked (1998)
Very Catchy
I really like the way this film reveals the whole story. I enjoyed it very much and never got bored. It attracted me immediately with the active questions. This film does not make any sense at first, but it effectively connects to the answer of the first curious questionable scene. I held my breath when I saw people are "whacked" towards the last scene, in which I found the answer of the active questions from the first half of the film and got super surprised. The last scene is quite funny and memorable, not only because it gives us the answer, but also because of the way it is edited. The cut of the man and other people on the streets appear on the screen alternately. The contrast of the way the film shows how lively the man stands on the top of the building and what he exactly does to others is very sarcastic and humorous. Moreover, how camera depicts the man and others is full of humor. The close-up shot of the man is very interesting, and how they cut and edit each person on the streets is quite funny. Also, it does not use any dialogue but other sounds such as the ambulance sirens very effectively, which makes the film even more unique and interesting.
Three Days in Kamakura (2012)
It Could Have Been Better
***This review may contain spoilers***
In my opinion, the film has lots of unnecessary scenes, which I thought it could be foreshadowing but I could not find this film is deep enough for those scenes. The main story is the British-Japanese couple, living a hard life in Japan, builds a stronger bond because of the boy whose mother is gone by the train accident. In order to express how hard their lives are, the discrimination they get is showed as a harassment by husband's boss and neighbors, and their intimate heart-broken fact that they cannot have a child is implied with a scar on the belly of the wife. However, those scenes are a little bit hard to understand and it could have been showed more simply or effectively. The boss flirting with a woman is not necessary at all, and this scene is rather making the film complicated even though it is not that complicated. Above all, I do not like the shower scene. The fact that they could not have children is important for this story, but it could have been expressed in other ways. Using props like an old baby's shoes which are not used could be the alternatives, or the scene should be cut. I just genuinely did not like the scene which suddenly turns the heart-warming film into awkward moments when I watch it with family.
Fish Out of Water (2005)
Good Idea
***This review may contain spoilers***
In this silent short film, the main character's struggle is expressed in a light comedy. This story reminded me of commuting by crowded trains for 45 mins to my high school every day. Sometime I happened to see my friends in the train. It was annoying to commute with a train full of unknown people, but being by myself in the crowd does not bother me more than talking with my friends or some people I know from high school on a crowded train. I could understand how the commute time of my own is precious. However, I would not swim the lake to my work place if I were him. I would not take earlier train to avoid seeing anyone I know, or make any effort to avoid the crowds. It is interesting that the film is focused on commuting, which is not a purpose to go to the workplace, and how he commutes to protect his precious private time. What I found interesting is the woman who is always fishing. Her existence is not that important for this story itself, but she helps to express his mind. Maybe it would be fun if I create the story from her perspective and think about the other aspect of the story to broaden the humor of this film.
Father and Daughter (2000)
Very Moving Animation Film
***This review may contain spoilers***
This melancholic animation film gave me somewhat nostalgic impression. The handwritten fashioned animation is very simple but familiar to anyone, and very easy to get into the film. The story was quite emotional for me, personally. The story is about a girl whose father has gone when she is a little, and I am in the situation a little bit relatable to this story, too. My father passed away because of lung cancer when I was one year old, so I do not remember anything at all about him. In this film, the girl kept waiting for his father to come back, not knowing he has gone. Her life is expressed by going to the waterside where her father left her. The most memorable scene was when the girl who became old and go to the waterside for the last time. She tried to park her bicycle but it won't stand by itself. I thought it shows that her senility and she was dying towards the last scene. I cried a little at the end, when she saw his father as a young girl again. Although I would not be able to recognise him, I wish I could see my father after the end of my life.