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Koi no katamichi kippu (1960)
Tear Down of the Entertainment Industry
"We'll be in the public eye, on stage in the bright lights. It might be a very dark place." - Maki
One Way Ticket to Love sets up an interesting contrast between it's main characters; a man (Shirai) who is wanted for his skills with an alto saxophone, and a woman (Maki) who is wanted for her body with no stage skills to speak of. Throw in seedy managers of both sexes, a star who is akin to Elvis with an ego to match, some exuberant groupies, and an ex-lover who can't seem to let Maki go and the film becomes so much more than what was set up. Which I think helped in being able to keep it interesting for 82 minutes, but also muddied that setup.
Shirai and Maki are frustrating characters, neither seem to be able to make a decision to save their life. Shirai repeatedly asks "what does she want from me?" even when she comes out and says exactly what she wants from him. Maki keeps going back to Shirai any time she must make a tough decision even after it's clear that Shirai won't help her make those decisions. The actors play the roles well, but that doesn't save them from being any less frustrating characters.
Where One Way Ticket to Love really shines for me is in it's capture of the sordid entertainment industry and how it breaks people down and molds them into whatever it wants them to be. Ueno (the Elvis of the story) parallels the King of Rock n' Roll's experience in the entertainment industry. He is used up and squeezed dry for all he is worth before he burns out; unfortunately, they seem to drop this build up in the last act of the film but there is still some room for interpretation that he might still be doing so against his will. For example, after he is shot at the concert, he stops for a moment and then just keeps performing, perhaps because "the show must go on" even if it means it's the death of you, and later the manager claims that he will be ready to sing again tomorrow and that he is in good spirits, but we don't see this so it could very well be false. The manager in question also has moments where she seems uncertain about what she's doing, primarily when Maki's manger is "not" threatening her into sleeping with Ueno to appease him.
There is even more going on here, but I digress. One Way Ticket to Love is a fantastic directorial and writing debut by Masahiro Shinoda, the story is strong but not without faults, the acting is great, and the cinematography is appropriately voyeuristic. There is also plenty of music to be enjoyed in this film, both pop and jazz, so that might tickle your fancy but it wasn't a major draw for me.
Tonda kappuru (1980)
Slice of Life, But For Real
I'll make this simple for any potential viewers: if you've ever watched a slice of life anime and you were bored by it or didn't like it, then The Terrible Couple isn't for you. It's based off of a manga by Kimio Yanagisawa, named Tonda Couple, with the same premise. Even the music is done by a composer who primarily worked on anime at the time. Interestingly, the manga was published as a shonen manga, meaning is was primarily targeted at young boys and I just don't see how this romantic-drama would really appeal to that sort of audience. There is a poster early into the film advertising Tomorrow's Joe (a boxing manga and anime, used by the boxing club for promotion), which was also a shonen manga that I think has a much wider appeal to that audience, but that's irrelevant to this movie...so moving on.
This is Shinji Somai's directorial debut, having been assistant director on 3 films prior. Speaking of assistant directors, Kiyoshi Kurosawa assistant directed The Terrible Couple under Somai as well as Sailor Suit and Machine Gun the following year. Somai already has a penchant for his signature dynamic long takes here and they were easily the part that most kept me drawn into the film. It seems his way of shooting has a way of bringing out the best in actors, and it clearly does so here. The leads, played by Hiroko Yakushimaru and Shingo Tsurumi, deliver fantastic performances. Side note, the characters are meant to be freshmen in high school which means they are 15-16 years old and the actors were actually that age at the time of filming, that shouldn't be noteworthy but it's always great to see high school kids actually played by age appropriate actors.
The story is pretty standard for a romantic-drama, emphasis on the drama, but again the acting and filmmaking elevates it to be more bearable than others of its kind. The relationships amongst the main characters are all very realistic, outside of perhaps being a bit too simplified and presumably cutdown for time. And even though The Terrible Couple clocks in at just over 2 hours, it feels as though we are missing the details that I imagine might have been present in the manga. Toshinori Omi's character seems the most affected by this issue, we get just enough of him so that it's clear that he feels undesirable and lonely, but he lacks the development to justify him informing the vice-principle of Kei and Yusuke's living arrangement or calling in a fake bomb threat just before that. And at the end, when they are playing human whack-a-mole, he breaks down and the others seem affected by this but it's unclear why; as if there was something missing from the plot development to tie it all together.
Again, if slice of life anime is something you enjoy, then you'll probably like The Terrible Couple; otherwise you may want to avoid this.
Moeyo Ken (2021)
Skip the Film, Read The Novel
Unfortunately, Baragaki uses an exorbitant amount of dialogue as a crutch to tell it's story instead of giving it over to the visual medium to handle. Even with all that dialogue, the story is still almost incoherent at times and because of the dialogue the film is bloated to an almost 2 hour and 30 minute runtime. I think the first mistake the film made was trying to tell such an expansive story over the course of a single film and while I don't love when stories get stretched out over multiple films, I think that it would have been wise to take that approach with this story.
The film does succeed in being the epic that I think it was trying to be with tons of characters and grand battles, but it never feels like it emotionally pays off. The acting is fine, but nobody's performance stood out for me. I wasn't much of a fan of the editing choices, particularly in moments of just dialogue with not much else going on, which can occasionally feel jarring and disconnected. I think the idea was to make the more dialogue focused scenes, of which there are a lot, feel more lively and dynamic but it just didn't work for me.
I'm being particularly negative, but it's mostly because I'm disappointed. I really liked the story being told, just not the execution and ultimately this film just made me much more enticed to read the novel it is based on and not so much care about the movie itself.
Nabeshima kaibyô-den (1949)
Cut Kittens, A Haunted Go Board, and A Murder Mystery - Oh My!
Cute kittens galore and a haunted Go board, how could I possibly say no? Honestly though, I wasn't expecting to be very engaged by the story of Ghost Cat of Nabeshima but it drew me in pretty quickly and held my attention for the most part. Most of the acting was very well done as well, particularly the two who played the feudal lord and Matashichirou. Nabeshima also looks quite good in cinematography, set design (there is a bit that is clearly on a soundstage but it's not long), and costumes/makeup; unfortunately the available quality is pretty 'scratchy' and aged and could really use a restoration if there is a viable print around. The 80ish minute runtime is a little longer than the film could manage well and the editing was a bit rough which I think really hurt the film for me - it could easily be 7 stars if the editing was better/tighter.
Also, I think it's worth mentioning that while this does get the branding of being a horror-mystery, it is much more a mystery than a horror. In fact, it's about as much horror as your typical episode of Scooby-Doo is a horror.
Jaddeh Khaki (2021)
Stunning Landscapes, Blunt Humor, and Heartbreaking
Such stunning landscapes should be cheating, I instantly fell in love with them and they just continued to impress as the film went on. Of course, jaw dropping landscape shots alone do not make a good movie, and Hit the Road is an excellent movie. The delicate balance between heartbreaking sadness and humor is handled flawlessly. The humor is wry and often catches you off guard with its bluntness, while the melancholy of the purpose of their journey is stricken throughout the film. The acting is superb, with a child performance that could easily have been as annoying to the audience as it is to the family but is played to perfection allowing us to sympathize with his unfortunate position of ignorance in the importance of this journey.
This film easily earns multiple viewings from me in the future and I can't imagine it will ever be a drag to do so.
Doragon Bôru Zetto Ora no Gohan o Kaese!! (1989)
Not So Good, But Short and Charming
As with all of the DBZ movies, you have to forget what you know of the main series. If you try to figure out when this takes place (roughly after the end of Dragon Ball and before the beginning of DBZ) you are gonna be scratching your head at all of the inconsistencies (e.g. Krillin doesn't know Goku has a kid when he visits Roshi's island in episode 1 of DBZ, but he clearly meets Gohan in this movie before that episode supposedly takes place). Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
Anyways, Piccolo is "killed" right off the bat by Garlic Jrs' henchmen because he knows that if he kills Piccolo it will kill Kame as well leaving Kame's lookout and throne free for the taking. However, Mr. Garlic's big plan is to gather the dragonballs and wish for immortality. He is clearly an idiot because if he had successfully killed off Piccolo and Kame this would have destroyed the dragonballs before he even had a chance to make his wish. This movie has plot holes and nonsense all throughout it and that shouldn't surprise anyone who has seen a DBZ movie before.
Just some other notable highlights; Gohan eats a fermented/alcohols filled apple (or similar-looking fruit) and gets drunk off his gourd causing him to hallucinate and have a full-on song and dance sequence (which the singing is oddly cut out in the English version, just another reason to prefer the original Japanese). Gohan takes a pee on Krillin's head and Krillin just seems to accept his fate of being proverbially peed on this entire series. Garlic Junior is a short boy but in a flashback, when Kame is having his exposition dump because nobody else is explaining what's going on, his father is seen to be a normal height. In one of the fights, a tip of Goku's hair is sliced off by one of the henchmen's hands but in the very next frame, his hair has magically grown back (why have this happen if you aren't even going to attempt to have any continuation?).
All-in-all this movie has messy storytelling and animation that falls desperately short of film quality. Gratefully, at 41 minutes long this movie moves pretty quickly. I love DBZ and the movies are always nostalgic to rewatch, but man are they bad.
Tempestad de odio (1993)
Fun If You Don't Speak Spanish, But Not Good
This is a Spanish language film that I assume aired on television and unfortunately for me, because I don't speak a lick of Spanish, had no subtitles. But I watched it anyways! Nothing can stop me! It was quite enjoyable to try to figure out what was going on and I broke out the live translate app on my phone to try to get bits and pieces where I could. You could presume I have quite a bit of hubris to rate/review a film that I couldn't understand, but a large part of film is visual storytelling and I believe I understood enough to share my opinion.
Well, I can't say this movie is particularly good, but I've definitely seen worse TV movies. There is a VERY long make out scene to presumably torture the woman's lover whom they have kidnapped (again, I'm pretty much entirely guessing what is happening in this movie) and it just kept going so long that it tortures the audience instead. The same goes for an extended scene of a guy driving in slo-mo with an unexplainable look on his face, I think he is trying to appear sad or confused but he just kind of looks like he is constipated. The man from the make out scene also spends about 90% of his screen time doing target practice and is shown to be quite proficient and then he immediately fails when he has a showdown with another character. I don't know if they thought that would be a clever move, but it was an extremely obvious set up and I was kind of hoping they would subvert my expectations and have him actually win the gun fight. Either way, this movie wasn't good and that was the end of it.
I don't recommend watching this even if you do speak Spanish.
Kentauros no Densetsu (1987)
Okay Animation, Boring Story, Bad Characters
The animation style seems a bit dated for 1987, more like late 70s or maybe the early 80s, which isn't my favorite style of animation but it doesn't look bad by any means. The story is, unfortunately, pretty run of the mill though, offering nothing that hasn't been seen before and done much-much better in other films. I really hate when a characters' almost sole motivation is 'to get the girl'. The girl in question also lacks any character development and exists purely for the main character to pine after. All of the characters lack any real development, but the girl is especially lacking in structure.
I'd recommend passing on this even if you are a hardcore anime fan.
Hito goroshi (1976)
Hidden Chanbara Gem
Futago Rokube (Yusaku Matsuda) may be cowardly but even cowards and weaklings have ways of defeating the strong. In an uncharacteristically brave moment, Futago takes it upon himself to be the executioner of a samurai named Nito Kouken (Tetsuro Tamba) that everyone else is too afraid to go after because of his unmatched abilities as a swordsman and fighter. Murderer! Murrrderrerrrr!! Mur-dur-er!!! Whether by chance or by fate, Futago realizes that if he calls out that Nito is a murderer everyone will run from him, and shop owners, food stalls, and inns will turn Nito away. With this knowledge, Futago hatches his plan to tirelessly follow around Nito shouting murderer whenever he is about to rest or eat in order to wear Nito down. What follows should be watched and enjoyed firsthand.
This movie is an all-around joy to watch. The two lead actors play their parts perfectly - Yusaku Matsuda as a coward who shakes at the mere thought of a growling dog and Tetsuro Tamba the stoic samurai who would not dishonor his blade no matter how annoyed he gets by Futago. There are plenty of great shots in this movie too. The music and musical stings are the only real negative for me - they are VERY 70s and don't really mesh well with the time period the film portrays. The music does kind of go with the comedic tone, but there are many serious moments in this movie as well where it doesn't work at all.
I definitely recommend anybody interested in chanbara to give this a watch.