2 posts tagged “movies”

In my previous post I mentioned a movie which I've been dying to see for some time. That movie is this movie - ただ、君を愛してる ("tada, kimi wo aishiteru"; trans: "Still, I am in love with you"; English title: "Heavenly Forest"). How I came to sit in a theatre watching it was facilitated by my girlfriend's sleight of hand by trying to get me to go jeans shopping for a friend with her... Though that sounded odd, I certainly didn't doubt it. I was pleasantly surprised then when we ended up in the cinema instead! (thanks for the tickets and sorry I was late baby~! m(_ _)m)

The name of the movie actually comes from Otsuka Ai's single, 恋愛写真, which I translated previously in this post. The English title is derived from the sub-title of the movie which was also the original title before Ai-chin showed them a thing or two about catchy Japanese titles, LOL. This sub-title runs 天国の森の恋物語, which can be romanised into "tengoku no mori no koi monogatari" and translated to "A love story from heaven's forest".

The movie has been out since October 2006 in Japan and features the acting talents of Hiroshi Tamaki (玉木宏) and Aoi Miyazaki (宮崎あおい). If you still haven't gotten their names down, learn it - Hiroshi is an awesome actor and Aoi too is an actress to be reckoned with. The picture of her near the end of the film (you will know which one I am talking about when you watch it) is absolutely stunning. I actually felt my heart skip a beat as it came into view... that's right, Aoi knocked me dead with her acting without even actually acting... LOL (@___@)

As with most of my talk about movies, I really don't want to give away too much about it. The story centres around the university life of these two characters and focuses particularly on the development of their relationship. If you listened to Ai-chin's single, you'll probably get the sense that this story does not end in a way that many would consider happy. But there are many touching moments throughout the film and the way that "love" is approached is uniquely heart-warming (I confess that I haven't cried so hard for a movie since The Notebook and I sure as hell wasn't the only one streaming with tears in that theatre!).

Whether you like your endings good or bad, this movie is certainly worth watching because the emotions it conjures are rather indescribable. Don't be misled however, this movie is not an emotional rollercoaster in any way. If you want to glimpse the frame of mind that the movie places you in, then the lyrics to Ai-chin's 恋愛写真 does very well to describe it. Nonetheless, there is nothing better than actually experiencing that very bizarre sense of bliss that the movie seems to radiate - so if you haven't done so yet, hurry up and go watch it already!

Of course, the world is not all that flat and it's understandably harder to get a hold of the film in some places. If you are in Hong Kong however, Heavenly Forest is playing in all major theatres now and if you happen to be in Japan - you can pick up the DVD today!

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Links:
ただ、君を愛してる official website

Ah, it's been a while since I've laughed this hard in a movie but 大日本人is one heck of a comedy (although classifying it as a comedy would do it no justice)! The film is called Dai Nipponjin (trans: "Big Japanese Man") in English and if you are in Toronto, it will be there for the film festival, so be sure to catch it! It is directed by a well-known Japanese comedian by the name of Matsumoto Hitoshi (he spells it Matumoto Hitosi in the credits... this is out of Japanese pronunciation order, but it is understandable in the romanisation of Japanese).

I am not planning to give anything away - I went in there without reading any synopsis of the movie and found myself pleasantly surprised. It is in that manner that I won't divulge any storyline details at all, save to say that I am likely watching it again when it officially hits cinemas in Hong Kong some time in the near future.

The movie itself may require some sensitivity to Japanese culture to fully grasp its implications but a closer look will unveil plenty of social, political and historical messages buried within its outrageous over-the-top content. If you are simply looking for a good laugh though - well, fear not, this movie has got that covered as well with plenty of hilarious scenarios and jokes.

I have to admit that I am left with only high praises for this movie (the people at Cannes seemed quite impressed with it as well actually) - don't miss Dai Nipponjin, it's a fun-filled, thought-provoking movie that relevantly captures the state of the world today in an unpretentiously eccentric fashion.

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Links:
大日本人 official website