Let's Movie Talk!

...But before that, obligatory 'earthquake' post. So, at around 9am, while I was still in bed, I was woken up by a tremble. I immediately knew, "This is bigger than the others have been" so I got up immediately and rushed to the door frame (interesting fact, prior to the earthquake, I'd never seen or heard that you should do that from anyone, but in a Simpsons episode, Grandpa runs to the doorway after he feels a tremor and before his retirement home sinks underground. So there you go, when I panic, my brain switches to Simpson mode). On the way to the door, I slip nice and good, before rolling to the door frame and getting up. I see my LCD TV shaking perilously and wonder if I should go support it, but eventually decide my life is a smidge more important (also, I had no glasses, so I might have tripped on the kotatsu on my way to the TV). The earthquake eventually stopped, then after about an hour, after I clean up the soy sauce which has fallen around my fridge, I notice my knee is bleeding. The End. Oh, there are still lots of tremors. Not Quite The End.

In all seriousness though, I'm glad that most people were safe and I hope we don't get hit again.

Now, on that up note, I want to talk about the movies I've seen since my last post. I've really become addicted to Japanese movies, now that I realize I can understand them (of course, my e. dictionary comes in handy for words like 'false accusation' and 'tone deaf'). These movies didn't have English subtitles btw, but that's one of the main reasons I picked them.

So the movies were:

あなたをわすれない or, I Won't Forget You. The movie is based (loosely, I'm sure) on the life of a Korean student who loved Japan and decided to study Japanese there (here?). It mostly deals with the love-hate relationship he feels with Japan. Considering it was a joint Korea/Japan movie, it surprisingly leaned to the side of "Geez, why are the Japanese such jerks to Koreans?". Slow, methodical Japanese made it very easy to understand (but damnit if his Japanese didn't get all fluent in the short time he was here (there?) *shakes fist*) and the story was ok. But, for a movie that seemed to deal a lot with music, there wasn't much of it in the movie, but the last song was pretty good. Verdict: Good for someone stepping into Japanese movies without Japanese subtitles as the conversations are basic and slow.

犯人に告ぐ or, Message to the Criminal. This is another 'listening comp. only' movie. The budget seemed pretty low on this movie, and it seemed like they were desperately trying to set up a sequel, and the end happens a little too fast, but the movie still worked. It's your basic game of cat and mouse, where a disgraced detective directly confronts a child serial murderer by using news broadcasts. I enjoyed the beginning, but it slows down after it's first act. It picks up towards the end, but leaves something to be desired. Verdict: Ok 'thriller', except that it doesn't thrill too much. Language level is a bit high, especially without Jpn subs.

キサラギ or... Kisaragi (I got nothing here, it's a name). Great, great, great movie. An excellent dark comedy. The basic premise is that a D-list celebrity has died, and her 5 fans have come together for a farewell party. From there, the murder accusations fly and the twists begin. What works is that the plot is extremely smart and it constantly balances between being hilarious and sad. While a comedy, it carries itself seriously to it's conclusion. I laughed, then cried... then laughed again. Verdict: Go watch it. The plot and the acting are top-notch. One of the best movies I've seen in a while. I watched it with Japanese subs, though I probably could have done without. The language level is medium, I'd say.

That's about it! If you have any Japanese movie suggestions, lemme know! (Anything that's not Shunji Iwai, I've seen too many of his movies)