JPT3391 MOVIE BLOG

[bigsconesjones]

Spirited Away

Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away is a heartwarming tale about a girl’s adventure into the spirit world, full of ripe commentary on themes of capitalism and Westernization. I haven’t seen this movie since I first watched it as a four-year old, so it was interesting to see that No-Face was not nearly as scary as he was in my preschool mind.

Initial Reactions

This movie was crafted beautifully, and each frame looked like it was painstakingly labored upon to get the minute details in each shot. There is no motion blur to stitch together frames, and this causes the viewer to be able to key in on how artistic this whole thing is. You can probably pause at any moment in this movie and not see any weird motion or anatomically wonky people.

However, something interesting to also note that adds onto this is the framerate and how Studio Ghibli sometimes will hold frames. Something I noticed in the movie, especially when comparing it to other anime films (Akira, I’m looking at you), is that it felt sort of rigid at some points, especially since the lack of motion blur made it harder to connect each frame. Doing a little research, I found that some Japanese companies will employ what is called “Koma-uchi” (example video below, and spelled コマ打ち for all you little weebs who want to dig deeper), where they will hold an image for two or three frames instead of the usual one. This was originally done as a cost-saving measure, but over time it grew appeal as feeling more artistic and also sometimes giving a more natural feel than higher framerates. Studio Ghibli employs this variable timing, and as a consequence Spirited Away drops into lower framerates, getting as low as 8fps. Not that I’m complaining, I don’t mind looking at these beautiful images for an extra fraction of a second.

Themes/Analysis

The major message in this film is a critique on modern-day capitalism and the greed that stems from it. For starters, the whole reason Chihiro and her family got into this mess is because her parents decided to indulge themselves on food that wasn’t their own and assuring that they’d be fine because the dad has “credit cards.” Adding on to this, No-Face absorbs the emotions of the people around him, and when he enters the bathhouse he absorbs the greed that everyone has to the point where he starts eating other people. Something interesting to think about as well is how Zeniba contrasts against Yubaba, and how the latter became so embroiled in money. This leads me to believe the major antagonist film is not Yubaba, but instead the system that put her at the top and perpetuates this culture of monetary gain at the expense of others.

Final Thoughts

This is a great movie. Not my personal favorite anime (hats off to Akira for being tooo good) but the message, the worldbuilding, and the whimsicality of it all leads this to be, at minimum, on the Mt. Rushmore of animated films.

[eclectichottubnut]

I definitely agree with you that Spirited Away was very heartwarming. I kind of wish that I had first watched it as a kid because I probably would have had a different view of the movie. I may have viewed it with more wonder. I definitely could see the blatant message if greed in the film with No Face and everyone after his gold, but I never really thought about it in a capitalistic way. I also never really thought about the power system and Yutaka being on type. I kind of just thought that she was so powerful that nobody could do anything about it. She also doesn't seem to be a total villain to everyone so they could just be complacent. You really dug deep into the the messages! Great Post!

[eclectichottubnut]

Spirited Away

Thoughts/Impressions:

Spirited Away is a really great movie. The animation is beautiful, the characters are whimsical, and the Joe Hisaishi does not miss for even a second. Yes, Spirited Away is by all means great, but it is also overrated. The first time that I watched Spirited Away was actually just a couple of months ago. I saw that the film was being played in a theater here in Gainesville and decided to see it for the first time with some friends. I’ve heard the nonstop praise for Spirited Away all my life, and the iconic design of No Face is recognizable even if you don’t know anime or Spirited Away. The movie was held up as this animated colossus that no other film could even attempt to match up to, but after the film, I was pretty let down. I thought the movie was great and it has an almost dream-like quality to it. Things just seem to occur as Chihiro moves around this weird shadow realm. There is the problem of her parents being possibly killed as they have been turned into pigs, but this is kind of just resolved at the end. The movie feels like it doesn’t really have direction, and this can be a good quality for the dream-like tone of the film, but some things just feel like they go nowhere or just happened for no reason. For being so iconic, No Face’s arc in the film doesn’t really change the story a crazy amount. He shows up, helps Chihiro bathe the spirit with those bath tags, becomes greedy, vores people, gets defeated by Chihiro, goes to Yababa’s sister’s house, and just stays there. Other than the bath tags, which wasn’t even really a No Face dependent event that only could have happened if No Face was in the story, he is largely just there. We don’t learn much about him as a character or his past. He shows up, helps Chihiro like once, and kind of just decides to leave later on. The dream-like essence of the film is really great and I do love the film, but I wouldn’t really even call this the greatest Ghibli film, never mind best animated film. I think the crazy hype behind the film may have set my expectations to high.

Themes/Interpretations:

Ok, I am about to eat my words a little here. Spirited Away’s main themes involve isolation, greed, and adulthood. These first two themes are personified in No Face, who is isolated until Chihiro helps him and eventually becomes greedy. I feel that No Face is led to greed because the money is what protects him from isolation, as all of the hotel workers are waiting on him hoping that he will give them some gold. No Face as a symbol of these themes works, but I wish that there was more to him. He isn’t really defined as a character to me. Chihiro’s parents can also represent greed as them eating a bunch of the food at the cafe is what got them into the mess they are in. In terms of adulthood, this is all Chihiro. She is a child who is separated from her parents. At first, she is afraid, but she gains her footing in the world and is able to handle herself. This is a story we see literally all the time in the real world, so almost anyone can relate to this transition to adulthood. Spirited Away may not be the best Ghibli film, at least in my opinion, but Chihiro is definitely my favorite Ghibli character.

Conclusion:

Spirited Away is a magnificent film. The setting and characters are quirky and so weird that the film feels like a vision from a dream. The score is magical, but what else can we expect from Joe Hisaishi. Overall, a really great film that I thoroughly enjoyed watching.

[animejanaihontounoeigasa]

Sukiyaki Western Django - Miike

For this blog post I will be discussing Sukiyaki Western Django by Miike. Well, as one of my friends put it, this movie was certainly one of the movies of all time. One of the characters in this movie said it best, “Shit just happens”. A lot of this movie felt like “shit just happens” the movie lol.

The movie was so over the top and silly. It felt like I was watching someone play one of the Yakuza (龍が如く) games because of how ridiculous the fight scenes were. I remember when Yoshitsune was trying to retrieve the machine gun from Kiyomori, he literally was sniping him with a revolver. Considering the accuracy of a handgun, especially a revolver of that type, it’s unbelievably impressive. On top of all of that Kiyomori gets hit like 3 times and is completely fine, unlike all the other characters who die after one hit. Then there was the fight between the gunman (who from what I know has no official name) and Yoshitsune. The gunman duel wielding fires at Yoshitsune who deflects all of the bullets with his KATANA. Then the gunman parries Yoshitsune’s katana with his REVOLVER and pulls out a THIRD gun. These two scenes do a good job of showing how ridiculous the fight scenes were and why they were so much fun to watch. I was always on the edge of my seat waiting to see what thing would happen next.

I also never expected to see otaku Quentin Tarantino. I was wondering why at the beginning of the movie there was just some random white guy in the movie when everyone was Japanese until I remembered someone mentioning that Tarantino was in the movie. When Tarantino said that he liked the name Akira because he was an anime otaku I couldn’t help but laugh a little because it was so random. Since this was a fictional universe, I didn’t think they were going to make a reference to stuff in the real world, plus Tarantino being an otaku is funny to me. The scene were Tarantino yells at Ruriko for making bad Sukiyaki and tearing her dish apart was hilarious to me. It was just so bizarre to see the white and western Tarantino go off at a Japanese lady for her subpar Sukiyaki while actually having a high level of knowledge on the dish.

Another scene that made me laugh was when Kiyomori was reading literature to the Heike clan. Kiyomori comes to the conclusion that because the red roses win in Shakespeare’s Henry the 6th, they would win against the Genji clan, and he changes his name to Henry. It was just the silliest logic, but somehow worked in the context of the movie. Watching the sheriff play dead to avoid dying was also humorous since he survives so many times lol.

I felt like the movie’s greatest strength was it’s visuals. I really enjoyed seeing the fusion between the traditional samurai aesthetic with the stereotypical cowboy western setting. It felt like a weird alternate universe where Japan settled America instead of Europe. It gave me Shin Megami Tensei IV vibes, as they did a similar thing by blending a Medieval European setting with Japanese Samurai. You can really see this in the beautiful set design, backgrounds, and costumes.

Overall, I liked this movie, but I would not say that it is one of the best movies we’ve watched in this class. It was honestly hard to take this movie seriously, especially with how over the top it was. I also couldn’t help but notice how unnatural the English sounded in the movie, which was understandable considering that English was probably not the first language of the director or actors. However, odd phrasing and bad line delivery did take me out of the experience from time to time. Despite its flaws, Sukiyaki Western Django is a fun watch.

[eclectichottubnut]

I agree that it wasn’t one of the “best” movies that we have watched, but like you said, it was so over the top and enjoyable. It did feel like I was watching some kind of ridiculous Yakuza game fight scene, though! The otaku Quentin Tarantino part was really funny. I was not expecting that at all. The samurai and cowboy fusion was just so cool. It was like pure fanservice, and I don’t even care. You are right. It did kind of give me Shin Megami Tensei vibes. I am really surprised that nobody tried this setting before this movie because it is just so cool. Great Post!

[eclectichottubnut]

Sukiyaki Western Django

Thoughts/First Impressions:

I thoroughly enjoyed watching this movie in a room with other people. I don’t think it would have been as fun without a live audience. This movie was so off the rails and campy that I was audibly screaming and confused everytime something happened. I was initially excited about the film because of screenshots that I saw online. The idea of a movie set in the Japanese Wild West was so insane to me that I was surprised that I had never heard of this movie before. I also saw that Quentin Tarantino was in the movie, so that also piqued my excitement. The plot is kind of loose and it feels like random action scenes just happen, but the basic gist is that there are two rival gangs fighting in a western town and a drifter arrives and puts a stop to the fighting. This movie was just so crazy. I honestly didn’t know the character motivations for half the characters and felt almost nothing for most of them, save like two, but that wasn’t the point of the movie. It was just an epic tale of violence and action set pieces, and I was all for it.

Themes/Interpretation:

I don’t see this movie as a film trying to send a message. It knew what it wanted to do, and by God, it accomplished what it set out to do in spades. It was just a loud, ultra-violent film about greed and bloodlust. There was plenty of gore and action to go around. The duel in the snow at the end was an especially cool scene. The addition of the mini gun was also extremely ridiculous. The movie was just a turn-off-your-brain kind of film, and if you watch it this way, it is pretty great. Don’t think about it so much.

Final Thoughts:

I wouldn’t rank this movie too highly among the movies that we have watched because it wasn’t exactly “great” in a critical sense, but it was definitely fun to watch. I could see myself watching this movie with friends one night or something like that. It was just really ridiculous and cool at the same time. I really liked it!

[bigsconesjones]

Sweet Bean

A touching story about the relationship of three people in different stages of life but with the same general struggle, Naomi Kawase’s Sweet Bean uses the discrimination of those with leprosy and ties it into an overall struggle of ostracization. I don’t generally have a strong reaction toward dramas, usually thinking they’re boring, but something about old women dying absolutely slaughters my emotions every time, and this one left me in tears.

Initial Reactions

I was afraid that this would have been another slog-fest, with how slow everything moved initially, but this was not the case. The scenes were so dense and full of elements later touched on in the film, that there was so much to think about. For example, in the scene where Wakana is back home, the lack of care from her mother, the spilt beer on the book, and the introduction of the problem with the canary were all necessary elements of this story, but jampacked into a tight five-minute window. Kawase’s meticulous construction of each scene made this movie much more interesting than others, where usually a scene only motivates one part of the story or is completely omittable.

It’s interesting that we watched this movie right after we watched Pulse, since a topic that was brought up was Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s distaste for natural elements and the idea of the eternality of nature, because this movie looooved nature shots. I don’t really mind though, I’m in the same camp as Tokue because I think cherry blossoms are incredibly beautiful.

Themes

This film has two major themes: ostracization and the pursuit of joy. Speaking on the former, this is primarily motivated by Tokue’s character: as a person with leprosy, she’s been in a sanatorium for most of her life, devoid of much contact with the outside world, and then further faces discrimination when Sentaro is forced to fire her due to declining business, a consequence of stigma around her affliction. However, this feeling of ostracization is experienced not just by her, but the other two central characters for varying reasons: Sentaro, having lost his mother while he was in prison and forced to work for a loan shark, feels ostracized and directionless, while Wakana, as mentioned earlier, is neglected by her mother, and to an extent by her classmates as she doesn’t go to cram school.

However, despite all this, Tokue finds joy. She enjoys life in each moment, whether it be passing under the cherry trees or working in the small dorayaki shop. She then passes this lesson on to both Wakana and Sentaro, the latter choosing to forgo the reconstructing shop to sell his own dorayaki at the park, taking in the full experience of being there.

Final Thoughts

Top tier film. There’s so much that’s going on here that I’m probably going to throw this one on my list of yearly rewatches. Despite all this praise though, the inner-critic and former restaurant employee of me does have one thing to say: In the interest of food-safety, as well as diffusing the conflict that was had, she (and Sentaro too!) should’ve worn gloves. But we might’ve not gotten such a beautiful story, so who am I to judge.

[eclectichottubnut]

I agree! I found the film very enjoyable to watch and I was also touched by the film. I didn’t cry at Tokue’s death, but I’ve got to admit that I did shed a tear when she was talking about how grateful she was that she was able to work at the shop. It was such as beautiful moment. It wasn’t sad, but it was very bittersweet and I admired Tokue’s glass-half-full take on life. The characters were each a joy to watch. I love that even though they are each going through tough times in their personal lives, the characters band together and provide support for one another. Very beautiful film! Great Post!

[eclectichottubnut]

Sweet Bean

Thoughts/First Impressions:

I only realized after watching it that Sweet Bean was the first “modern” movie we have seen in class. It was pretty good. It was a little predictable, though, because as soon as I saw Tokue, I knew she was going to die by the end. Maybe that is just me, though. The story of the movie is very simple. Sentaro is a man working at a dorayaki stand to pay off money that he owes after committing a crime, and Tokue, an old lady with deformed hands due to leprosy, wants to work at this dorayaki shop. She starts to work there after proving herself to Sentaro with her amazing sweet bean paste and the customers are lining up for her dorayaki. Eventually, it is revealed that Tokue had leprosy, and she is forced to leave due to the prejudice of the customers. Sentaro and Wakana, a schoolgirl that Sentaro befriended, visit Tokue and learn of her past. Sentaro feels bad about what happened to Tokue, but Tokue assures him that she is grateful for the time she spent at the shop. A few months later, Tokue dies of pneumonia and leaves Sentaro her dorayaki making equipment as well as a cassette tape. At the end of the film, Sentaro is seen selling dorayaki at his own stand in a local park. Overall, the movie was very well made and touching.

Themes/Interpretation:

The theme of the movie is pretty visible in the film, and Tokeu even says it at one point when Sentaro and Wakana are listening to the cassette tape. Tokue says that people are not defined by their careers, but who they are themselves. She talks about how people were brought into the world to experience and cherish it. Tokue is shown to be someone who is very in-tune and appreciative of the world around her despite the hardships and tragedy that she has suffered in her own life. We see this when she is making the bean paste for instance. She says that the beans have their own story to tell and that she likes to listen to it. I like the three main characters, but Tokue is very inspiring to me. She is thankful for the life she has led despite all the obstacles she had to overcome. She has suffered from leprosy, and has been discriminated against as a byproduct. She is even ousted from the dorayaki job that she enjoyed so much because of discrimination, but she is still able to look back on her time at the shop fondly. Now that is a winner.

Final Thoughts:

Sweet Bean was a pretty solid film. I don’t like it enough to put it in my top 5, but it was really enjoyable to watch. I especially like the modern aspects of the movie. Movies like Pulse, Go, and Ringu are somewhat modern, but this is much closer to current times and is much more relatable. The past couple of movies that we have watched have all been winners, and Sweet Bean is keeping the streak going.

[bigsconesjones]

Pulse

Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Pulse hits on horror tropes incredibly well in the beginning but falls off really hard in the end. In addition to this, I feel like the idea of ghosts invading the world, specifically through the internet, to be a bit too confusing and full of missteps.

Initial Reactions

If this movie had ended thirty minutes earlier, my opinion about this would have been a lot different. The post-apocalyptic feel of this movie in the last half-hour strayed away from the creepy atmosphere that was present throughout the other parts, and kind of ruined it as a horror movie in my opinion. The shot of the cargo plane crashing into the city was a bit dumb and reeked of a desire to fit into action films, which this movie was most definitely not.

I also do not understand the concept of the ghosts and their powers. In the movie, Harue says that since the ghosts are being overcrowded in their own dimension, they were pouring over into ours and trying to claim it, and because of this, the ghosts weren’t trying to kill us but trap us in our loneliness. This 100% makes sense as a concept, and I thought that this was a great and original idea for the danger in the movie, but we never got closure as to what happens to the people who turn to ashes. As it stands, it appears as if the ghosts do lead them to death, since their ghosts are also present, but doesn’t this defeat the whole purpose of the ghosts invading the world, since the recently killed are now ghosts and take up space in whatever dimension they’re cramped in? The only rationalization I can make is that they get lead to some other pocket dimension of their loneliness (which would have been amazing if Kurosawa could’ve visualized that in the movie), but I that’s too much of a stretch for me to make, as well as a weird solution for the ghosts to make, since they could’ve just gone and inhabited those dimensions instead of invading ours.

Themes/Analysis

The major theme in this movie is about loneliness: the victims all have a sense of loneliness, and the ghosts trap people in their loneliness. However, I think this theme was strayed from (again) in the final thirty minutes in the decision to recognize this whole thing as a global phenomenon. The fact that this is being recognized and experienced by the entire world kind of takes away from the loneliness aspect, because there’s now an implicit understanding that “Hey, everybody’s going through the same thing as I am, I’m not alone.” There’s a feeling of unity in struggle, which detracts from the theme. It can be occurring worldwide, I just think that it would’ve been better if it was a silent killer, which could have also touched on a theme of failure in not recognizing depression as something serious.

Final Thoughts

I just wish this movie concluded earlier; the last half-hour really mucked it up for me. Amazing concept, insanely creepy atmosphere for the first ninety minutes, but then it turned into I Am Legend and completely turned me off.

[eclectichottubnut]

I agree with you on the last half hour of the film. It completely threw off the tone that the film had built up to that point. The movie was packed with eerie scenes that built tension. There were numerous scenes with shadowy figures in the background of shots to build tension, and the characters were “silently” dealing with the problem of the ghosts. These aspects made the film creepy, but when it got to the point where the ghosts became widespread, the tone changed drastically. Like you said, it became an “I Am Legend”-like apocalypse movie, and I think this dragged the movie down a lot. I also like that you pointed out the contradiction in everyone in the world dealing with loneliness. Since they are all experiencing loneliness, they are unified in this aspect. I never really thought about that while watching the movie. Great Post! 

[eclectichottubnut]

Pulse

Thoughts/First Impressions:

Pulse was a pretty solid movie, but I don’t think that it lived up to the hype that I had beforehand. A while ago, I saw the clip of the ghost lady in the basement with Yabe and genuinely thought that the scene was really creepy. It wasn’t necessarily scary, but it grabbed my attention and I was really excited when I saw that we were watching Pulse. While I thought that the movie was good, I don’t think that anything ever got to be as creepy as that basement scene. I also didn’t really like how the movie turned into a zombie apocalypse type of film but with ghosts. I don’t really feel like this concept works well with ghosts. Zombies are scary in masses because while they are dumb and slow, they are overwhelming in numbers. Ghosts starting a zombie-like apocalypse through the internet just sounds kind of dumb and not really scary. It’s like a B movie plot. I think that ghosts are scarier when used sparingly. The movie is also kind of split into two branching stories that eventually come together near the end, and I didn’t really like this aspect until the stories came together. It felt disjointed when switching between the two stories before they intersected, and when they do intersect, the characters meet in a random fashion. The motives of the ghosts are also not clearly explained, and I was constantly wondering what happened to people who were turned into wall shadow. Did they get sent to the shadow realm or something? Honestly, the movie before the whole apocalypse part was pretty good, but the parts near the end of the movie drag it down a lot. I just wish there were more moments that made me feel the same high tension as that basement scene with the creepy ghost lady walking towards Yabe.

Themes/Interpretation:

I think that the Pulse focuses a lot on the theme of loneliness, and the computers through which the ghosts spread and attack people are representative of this loneliness in the modern age. Each of the characters presented feels a sense of loneliness at some point in the film and it is even said by one of the characters that the ghosts are trapping people in their loneliness. The internet is always touted as a way to bring people together, but it also isolates people from each other in the real world. The setting of Pulse is also a metropolitan area that I assume to be Tokyo. You would assume a city such as this to be bustling with people, but even before the ghost apocalypse, it seems sparsely populated. I expect that this is for the purpose of symbolizing the isolation that people feel in society despite there being many people around them in city areas. I like the themes presented here, but that apocalypse part in the end really throws off the eerie vibe of the film for me.

Conclusion:

Pulse was a pretty solid movie. It is a horror movie, but I never really felt scared. It was definitely creepy at moments, though. I especially love the basement scene with the walking ghost lady. Her walk is just so off-putting and weird that it is unnerving. I would say this movie falls somewhere around the upper half of the middle section of the list of movies we have watched so far. It was pretty good.

[animejanaihontounoeigasa]

The Ring VS Ringu

For this discussion post I will be comparing the Ringu to the American adaptation of the movie The Ring. Overall the films are very similar, almost all the plot points are the same. The biggest difference between the two movies are the backstory of Sadako and Samara being different.

Sadako had psychic powers in Ringu, she was killed by her father Ikuma, her mother also had psychic powers, and her father was a doctor. 

I had expected that they would change the ghost’s background to fit the new setting, America, for The Ring, so that much was not surprising. In The Ring, Samara (the ghost) is not even the biological daughter of the Morgan’s (who I believe were horse ranchers), but was adopted. She has psychic powers similar to Sadako, but there were some other things that differentiated her. The thing that was probably most different was the extent of Samara’s power in comparison to Sadako. Sadako was able to attack Reiko far away from a TV once when they were on the beach, but Samara’s influence seemed to be much stronger. She influenced anyone who was cursed to draw certain pictures or scribble rings, she could make water come out of the tv and phone, she was able to somehow place hair in Rachel (the reporter’s) throat, she was able to use telekinesis to move the tv to attack Rachel and move the cover back over the well to trap Rachel in it, as well as being able to burn people. She also was able to drive people crazy such as her mom (as well as the horses who committed suicide).This version of the ghost seemed a lot more threatening than Sadako, although I think that appearance wise Sadako was scarier. When I saw the reveal of the ghost’s face I chuckled a bit since I thought it just looked a bit goofy. One other thing that was different was that in The Ring it was her adoptive mother that killed her, not her father.

They do replicate a lot of the powerful scenes from Ringu very well such as the scene where the reporter’s son watches the tape and they are horrified and try to cover their son’s eyes, the scene where they hold the corpse in the well, as well as the scene where they find the well under the house. It pays a really good homage to the original movie, especially with the cinematography. 

In The Ring the TVs are a lot more menacing than in Ringu. In Ringu there often would be a TV looming in the background, but in The Ring a TV literally attacks Rachel. Not only that, the TVs constantly turn on by themselves (which I don’t remember happening in the original), which was pretty creepy. The most impactful scene with the TVs is the scene where they show all the TVs through the apartment windows in Rachel’s apartment complex, as it shows how Rachel is quite literally surrounded by Samara’s influence and it makes it feel like she can’t escape her.

To be honest it was hard to be scared during this movie since I knew what was going to happen based on the first movie. Since I knew copying and showing the tape to someone else would save her, I knew that Rachel was not in any real danger in the second half of the movie, so it took a lot of the tension out of the movie. I also wasn’t really scared by the first movie, but I will admit that I think this movie was a bit scarier, especially when comparing the victims faces in Ringu vs The Ring.

I did notice that when Noah looks through Anna Morgan’s file, there was something written about her in Japanese as well as their being Japanese art in Mr. Morgan’s house. I thought that was a cool nod to the Japanese origin of the original story and movie.

I liked that they addressed the dilemma of removing the curse in this movie, since in order to do so you must curse someone else. I honestly was surprised that they didn’t talk about it in Ringu, they kind of just ignore it.

Overall I thought The Ring was a decent adaptation of Ringu, as it was pretty faithful to the original movie. It was definitely better than the American adaptation of Godzilla where they inserted a random character into the movie that wasn’t originally in the movie. It was definitely a fun watch; I would recommend it if you are curious as to how the two movies stack up to each other.

[eclectichottubnut]

I agree that The Ring was pretty decent. It is essentially the same story as Ringu with some scenes being almost exactly the same in framing. I just kind of feel like the movie is almost the same, but slightly worse. The aspects that were added are weaker than the original, in my opinion. For example, Samara’s past is TOO fleshed out. It takes away the mystery behind her character, and they also show too much of her with her speaking scenes and face reveal. The actors were pretty good, but I like the Japanese actors way more. I really bought the actors in Ringu more and cared more about them. Essentially, the movie can’t be bad because it follows the same plot points as the original, but the additions are either serviceable or make the movie slightly worse.

[eclectichottubnut]

Extra Credit: Ring (American)

Thoughts/First Impressions:

Right off the bat, I 100% think that Ringu is the better film. Honestly, I really don’t see why this movie had to be made. Essentially, the American version is almost exactly the same, but there are some differences, such as the Ring girl’s past. Changes like these are less interesting to me, though. Let me give some examples of changes I didn’t like, then I’ll talk about the couple of changes that I did like. From the first scene, when I saw the typical horror movie teenage girls talking about guys and sex, I felt like I was watching Scream or something. This was one of the moments where it just felt like the movie was so blatantly Americanized. The actors and cinematography in the dark house in the Japanese version just seemed way better. There was an atmosphere to the scene. The American version just felt like such a tropey moment that I’ve seen so many times before. This one scene wasn’t the problem, but I’m using it as an example of something that was annoying to me. I noticed a couple of tropey moments like this in the film, and I feel like they make Ring less distinct from other American horror movies. To bring up another tropey aspect as another example, the kid in this film is really strange and senses Samara, but he doesn’t really act like a kid. In the Japanese version Yoichi can sense and communicate with the ghost sort of, but still kind of acts like a kid. The kid in The Ring is just really strange and stilted, and it feels like there is always the strange little kid that doesn’t act his age and can sense ghosts in American horror movies. Am I crazy with these takes? I don’t know. Ringu just simply hits different.  Another change that I disliked was the Ring girl’s past and overexposure. Samara, who is named Sadako in the Japanese version, is so overused in this movie. In Ringu, Sadako’s mysteriousness makes her very eerie and threatening. We don’t really know too much about her or her thoughts. I don’t even think that we saw her face or heard her speak once in Ringu. We have snippets of her backstory through flashbacks, but we don’t know too much about her as a person. I think knowing very little information about her makes her scarier. For instance, when we see just her deranged looking eye peeking out through her soaked strands of hair, it creates a striking and skin-crawling image. She almost doesn’t seem human. Compare this to Samara in the American version. We hear her speak and see her whole face multiple times. We understand her thoughts and why she wants revenge, because she sort of tells us herself in the backstory tapes. In fact, I feel bad for Samara over Sadako because I got to hear her say she says she loves her mom from her own mouth, but Samara is ultimately killed by her down the road. In my opinion, this exposure of Samara makes her less scary than Sadako. She might be slightly more sympathetic, but the goal is to make her scary, and the effect is lost. When the film eventually gets to the American version of the scene where Sadako’s eye peers through her hair, we also see Samara’s face when she is the corpse-like ghost. It just isn’t as scary. It looks like a rip-off of Reagan from The Exorcist, and what was a really striking shot in the Japanese version is now ruined. The new backstory for Samara is okay. I mean, I didn’t think the characters in this film were going to travel to a Japanese island to unravel the mystery of the ring or anything. The new version is similar, but I still like the original more.

 Now I’ll talk about the couple of things that I did like in this version. They aren’t really anything too major, but they are little touches that I appreciated. One thing that I liked was the scene where the ex-husband character interacts with the kid and talks about being present in his life. I feel like the father and son never interacted in Ringu aside from that one scene where they stared at each other in the rain. This part was a good character moment in the American version. The other thing that I appreciated in the American version is that they show tapes and televisions in the past when they are showing Samara’s backstory. In Ringu, the period when Sadako lived seemed too far back in the past to have VHS tapes, and I was thinking that it was weird that she somehow latched on to VHS tapes. At least they show that this technology was in existence during Samara’s lifetime in The Ring. This detail makes the VHS tape aspect a little more believable. That is about it for what I liked more, though. This movie was just a worse version of Ringu. The original stomps all over this Americanized version. Sorry, not sorry.

[bigsconesjones]

Ring

I am a BIG fan of horror movies. However, for some reason I’ve only watched American remakes of Japanese horror films like Ring or The Grudge, and not the original movies themselves. This made me excited to finally watch Ringu, an excitement that was not let down as this was one of the best movies we’ve watched. It was tight, it was creepy, and most of all, it was interesting.

Initial Reactions

For starters, the pacing in this movie was insanely good. With a runtime of only 90 minutes, Nakata manages to pack so much in there that there isn’t a single moment where I felt bored and was waiting for the next scene to roll around. Some of the movies we’ve had to watch have been slogs, but this one kept you on your toes at all moments.

One thing I especially liked about this movie is that we don’t really see Sadako or how she kills her victims until the end. I think the touch of mystery really elevates this, adding a heightened tension that wasn’t seen in earlier movies, especially in the typical slasher films that preceded this one. Plus, something that was lost in the American remake was that they decided to show Sadako’s (or in the film, Samara’s) face in the end, which was just a Linda Blair, The Exorcist rip-off, and I think just leaving it to just Sadako’s eye made it a bit scarier, since I don’t think I would have been frightened by a sneering fourteen-year-old.

Themes/Analysis

One of the major motifs in this movie is technology. Sadako’s curse is motivated through the viewing of a VHS tape, and the video must be spread in order to avert death. However, I don’t think this a critique on the influence of media in our lives, but instead the movie is showing the television as a gateway to something much deeper, much akin to the power of the sea also seen in this movie.

A good way of interpreting horror movies is looking at what the monsters symbolize within the movie, like how in Babadook, the titular monster is representative of the mother’s struggles in raising her son. In this vein, Sadako can also represent this: Reiko’s struggles with raising Yoichi. Yoichi is constantly forced to live independently, despite being a literal child, and is constantly disconnected from his mother. This is further added on to as Reiko becomes obsessed over the tape and the mystery, and it seems that the only way Yoichi could connect with her is by watching the tape himself, putting his life at risk (albeit unknowingly) just for his mother’s attention. Reiko never really does anything for Yoichi until the tape forces her to.

Final Thoughts

This is a great movie. I think the part that makes it stand out to me when compared to other movies is that it was incredibly engaging, as most horror movies are since they’re built to keep you on your toes. However, this one takes it up a notch by keeping the truly scary part (how they die) under wraps until the end.

[eclectichottubnut]

I like that you brought up the pacing. I also thought that it was really good! I didn’t even realize that the movie was as short at 90 minutes because so much happened over the course of the movie. I also didn’t ever really think to compare this movie to the Babadook. Now that you point it out, it does seem pretty similar. I just feel like Yoichi isn’t super present in the film like the kid in the Babadook is. I get what you’re saying, though. Great Post!

[eclectichottubnut]

Ringu

Thoughts/First Impressions:

Prior to the viewing session, I was pretty excited for the movie. I’ve seen Ringu referenced and parodied in different media all of my life, but never really got the chance to actually sit down and watch it. I always just knew it as that movie with the video tape and the girl from the well. Now that I’ve watched it, I can say that it was actually really good and I can understand why it is constantly referenced when talking about horror movies. The plot is pretty straightforward at first. There is a videotape that will cause the viewer to die several days after viewing it. A journalist watches the tape after her niece is killed by the tape, and investigates the origins of the tape and its curse alongside her ex-husband. What follows is a journey down a bizzare rabbit hole that involves mysterious events from years past, ESP, and murder. The backstory behind the tape was pretty unexpected to me. It was just something totally different to what I imagined prior to watching the film. I guess the whole plot was pretty surprising to me. Prior to watching, I thought the film, like a lot of other horror films, would focus on teenage main characters who happened upon the tape. It had me thinking this at the first scene, but I was surprised by the shift in characters in the next couple scenes after.

Themes/Interpretation:

In Ringu, I don’t really see a main theme from the story. I feel that we watched it more for its influence on the horror genre as a whole. I mean, the idea of facing an unescapable doom from something as menial as watching a video tape is a pretty scary idea. This movie was so popular that many other films have referenced and paid homage to it. If I had to reach for a meaning or theme, I would say that despite the advances in technology presented in the film such as VHS and phones, there is no escape from the past? I mean Sadako is able to reach her victims through a literal VHS tape despite that not even existing in a somewhat older looking time period. Again, I don’t really see a blatant message for the audience, but a movie like this doesn’t need one. It told a solid story and was pretty chilling at times. 

Final Thoughts:

I’m glad that I was finally able to watch Ringu! I can finally say that I have watched it and feel like I’ll appreciate when other media references it more. I am really looking forward to Pulse, though. I saw a creepy clip from that movie on Youtube, and I can’t wait to watch it soon. 

[bigsconesjones]

Swallowtail

This movie is what people should think about when they think of a “rollercoaster of emotions.” Swallowtail is a long drama about a group of disenfranchised people referred to as “Yentowns” that ranges from bringing you to tears to making you laugh from absurdity. Overall, I’d probably put this movie right outside my top-ten, it was pretty good but seemed a bit long, especially with a subplot that I think was completely unnecessary and filled with plot holes.

Initial Reactions

This movie is a trip and a half. I wasn’t really invested in the character of Fei Hong, even during his weird redemption arc because it seemed too little too late, especially since selling Glico out felt so long ago in the context of the story (and plus, Glico wanted to be in the music industry? Exclusivity is a weird thing to sell when she’s not exclusive). I did however, pretty much like everybody else in the movie: Glico finding her footing as a music idol was uplifting, and the scene where Ageha finally gets her namesake butterfly tattooed on her was emotionally compelling.

The subplot I didn’t like that was referred to earlier though was the interaction between the reporter and Glico. For starters, why would the reporter initially trust someone clearly cracked out and not in the right mental state? On top of that, how did the prostitute and reporter know it was Sado (or whatever his name was) who was killed? It’s not like his body was reported in the news with a name since it was buried with no indication of being found. And why wasn’t Glico’s room cleaned out in that timespan? That scene occurred so early in the movie that the room being in the exact same state seems to be impossible; someone should have cleared it out for the sake of destroying evidence.

And to top it all off: What was the whole point of this? The only thing that this whole subplot established that couldn’t be written around was the introduction of the reporter character, who is completely useless in the larger context of the story. This added unnecessary time to a two-and-a-half-hour movie that really hurt its overall enjoyment.

Themes/Analysis

I think the major theme of this story is metamorphosis. This is best seen in the characters of Glico and Ageha: Glico goes from a hooker scrapping for extra cash to a music star, and Ageha’s transformation can be visually seen, as she goes from having a caterpillar drawn on her chest to a Swallowtail Butterfly tattoo, emblematic of her growth into a Yentown. However, one thing to note is that despite these transformations, they don’t forget their roots. Glico ends the movie back in the junkyard, and Ageha, in the process of getting her tattoo, has a flashback of her times when her mom was alive.

Final Thoughts

One last thing to write about the movie was how fun the standoff/bazooka scene was. It was incredibly over-the-top, and drew me back into the film. With that being said, I still feel that this movie was too long and could have been cut in many areas that would’ve metamorphosed this movie into a much better one.

[eclectichottubnut]

I agree with you wholeheartedly. The movie was interesting and the world in which the movie is set also had a lot of potential, but things like that useless side plot bogged down the film for me. I thought maybe the Chinese mafia would find out about the tape from the club or something, but instead they chose to shove a random reporter character that we aren't invested in at all into the story. Like you said, the side plot was pretty messy too. I also enjoyed the bazooka scene! It was crazy and felt like it was out of a video game or something. Overall, I would say that Swallowtail Butterfly was pretty decent! Great Post!

[eclectichottubnut]

Swallowtail Butterfly

Thoughts/First Impressions:

Where do I start with this movie? It was so strange, but oddly still pretty good? The basic plot of Swallowtail Butterfly is that there is a group of outcasts living in a dystopian version of Japan known as “Yentowns.” This group of people is discriminated against and the group seems to be composed of people from different nationalities, with many Chinese characters present in the film as well as a couple that seem American. The film mainly follows an orphan Yentown who initially has no name, but is eventually given the name Ageha by her new “sister,” Glico. The film follows Ageha and Glico as a whole chain of events occur, including Glico becoming a music star, the group getting involved with the Chinese mafia, and Ageha finding her place among her new “family.” The plot was kind of weird and all over the place, but entertaining nonetheless. The characters were pretty cool. I liked Frank, the mechanic guy who just started shooting the squad of Chinese mafia guys and took out the squad leader. He was pretty cool. The cinematography was really good in some scenes, and the music was pretty good. I didn’t really like Glico’s singing :(. One thing that took some getting used to was the constant switching between Japanese, Chinese, and English. I don’t think I’ve ever watched a film where the language switches as often as this one. I think this is a good movie, but not one of my favorites. It sort of feels like dystopian, Japanese GTA.

Themes/Interpretation:

I don’t really see a message in this film. I might have to watch it again, but I get the vibe that the director just wanted to tell a cool crime story set in dystopian Japan. I could see the message of the film being one of perseverance. Ageha loses her mom at the beginning of the film and has nobody. Soon after, she finds Glico and bonds with her as well as the other characters that they encounter. Ageha goes from being an emotionless slate to actually having character and people she cares about. Ageha builds a “family” over the course of the film. Even as a disadvantaged Yentown, Ageha continues to find her way in the world, and that is pretty admirable. 

Final Thoughts:

Swallowtail Butterfly was pretty good. If I ever found it again, I’d probably give it another watch. I really liked the intro monologue, though. Something about it was hilarious to me. Maybe because they said “Yentown” like 30 times in a minute :).

[ugetsuwasmid]

Kitano - Hana-bi

The 1997 film Hana-bi, released in the west as “Fireworks”, by Takeshi Kitano is a subtly beautiful film. The story primarily focuses on Nishi, an ex-detective who retired from police-work after an incident that caused his partner to be paralyzed from the waist down as well as two other cops to be injured or killed. With Nishi out of work and his wife receiving treatment for leukemia, Nishi takes out a loan from the yakuza in order to make ends meet. When the mob begins pressuring Nishi to pay back his debts, he buys a used taxi, paints it like a police cruiser, and proceeds to pull a heist. After successfully making off with the money, Nishi sends some of it to the wife of the cop that died during the earlier incident and then takes his wife on a vacation to the beach. The yakuza and cops, both having realized that Nishi pulled the heist, follow him. As the police confront their former colleague on the beach, he asks for a moment alone with his wife before they arrest him, during which time the film closes with Nishi and his wife standing on the beach before the sound of two gunshots are heard.

The core theme of Hana-bi is that of mortality. Early in the film it is established that Nishi is no stranger to mortality. His wife has been battling terminal Leukemia, and their family had only recently gone through the loss of a daughter. Later, Nishi is the only one to walk away unscathed from an incident involving an armed suspect that paralyzes his partner, Horibe, injures one officer, and kills another. The resulting guilt weighs heavily on Nishi throughout the film. Nowhere is the theme of mortality more present than in the journey of Horibe, whose family abandons him after his paralysis despite him having previously been a loving husband and doting father. This abandonment leaves Horibe deeply depressed, and he attempts suicide. For both Nishi and Horibe, mortality looms over them like a spectre, yet they each respond their mortality and the mortality of others in their own ways. Nishi is often shown in quiet contemplation, and he shows his wife much devotion, tenderness, and care. Nishi also takes personal responsibility to take care of the widow of the officer that died, meeting with her at times and sending her money after the robbery is successful. Despite his generally sympathetic and calm disposition, Nishi’s actions and life are punctuated by outbursts of extreme violence and bloodshed. Nishi’s violence, however, is always focused and has a specific goal in mind. As for Horibe, his injuries and resulting paralysis set him on the path of depression and an eventual suicide attempt. After this, Horibe picks up the hobby of painting and creates surrealist works of animals with their heads and eyes replaced by flowers. These paintings are themselves symbolic of mortality, as the flower is, like a firework, only a brief but beautiful existence. In the end, the film does not have a conclusive message on how one should face mortality, but it instead shows that the beauty of life can be appreciated despite how brief it is.

[eclectichottubnut]

I really like your take on the film. I had trouble finding the meaning behind it, but I feel as though you put it perfectly. Like a firework, life is brief, but also like a firework, it can be beautiful. I never really thought of that, but it makes sense. The movie had a lot of sadness in the form of Horibe contemplating suicide and Nishi’s relationship with his dying wife, but there is also beauty in Horibe finding meaning in art as well as Nishi cherishing his time with his wife. The music made these touching scenes even better. Great Post!

[eclectichottubnut]

Hanabi

Thoughts/First Impressions:

I enjoyed watching Hanabi. It is definitely close to the top 5 movies, but I’m not quite sure if it breaks the top 5 just yet. I have to think about it some more. The movie follows a violent former police detective, Yoshitaka Nishi, who borrows money from the Yakuza to pay for his wife’s medical care, as she has leukemia. Nishi is able to get the money by staging a bank robbery, but the Yakuza still continue to pursue him. Nishi takes his wife on a road trip with the Yakuza in pursuit of him. On the road trip, we see Nishi enjoy quality moments with his wife, such as lighting fireworks, and I was really touched by these little moments. Eventually, the Yakuza track down Nishi, but he kills them all in a shootout. The day after the shootout, Nishi goes to the beach with his wife, and his former detective partners attempt to arrest him, realizing that he robbed the bank. Before they do, Nishi asks for some time with his wife on the beach, and they then commit suicide together. The plot was pretty simple, but I honestly enjoyed this movie. I think this was the only movie we watched to make me feel sort of sentimental. The cinematography was good, but not really anything crazy to me. The music on the other hand was great, and I think I can owe a lot of my sentimentality to the way that it elevated the scenes. From the beginning credits, I thought the score was beautiful yet familiar sounding, and just as I was about to look up the composer, I saw Joe Hisaishi pop up in the credits. He composed the music for just about every Ghibli film, so that was why it sounded familiar to me. I can’t really emphasize enough just how much I appreciated the music in this film. It was really beautiful.

Themes/Interpretation:

I can’t really find any sort of message from Hanabi. It just seemed like the movie set out to tell the story of Nishi as he goes on this final road trip with his wife before she died. I mean, Nishi has lived somewhat of a hard life with the botched arrest attempt from his past having present consequences like his partner being paralyzed. Nishi’s wife is also dying of cancer. Yeah, Nishi is violent, but to me, it always seems like there is purpose behind it. He isn’t just a psychopath. He lashes out with violence against the Yakuza and even robs a bank for his beloved wife. I’m really drawing a blank on the message, but I liked the pretty simple yet touching story.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, I really enjoyed the film. It was pretty solid. I just can’t get over the music. I think it was once of the best scores in a movie that we have watched so far.

[animejanaihontounoeigasa]

GO - Yukisada

For this blog post I will be discussing the movie GO by Yukisada, which revolves around the daily life of Sugihara as he struggles to find his identity in Japanese society as a Japan-born Korean. I really enjoyed this movie, watching Sugihara was so much fun since he was such a chad. He is the toughest guy at his school, he read a book while at the party instead of doing drugs, and outran a train at the subway station. He is always on the sigma grindset. His hairstyle also looks just like Kasuga Ichiban from the Yakuza series (龍が如く) which made me like him even more.

The main themes that the movie explores are racism and identity. As a Japan-born Korean (Zainichi), Sugihara (as well as his Korean friends and classmates) experience a great degree of racism in Japan. This can be seen in the way the basketball team treats Sugihara at the beginning of the movie, when the male Japanese students harass the Korean girl in the subway, and when Sakurai becomes scared of Sugihara once she learns he is Korean. There is also a lot of discrimination towards the Japanese from the Koreans, as seen from the teacher at the North Korean school as well as Sugihara’s former classmates from the North Korean school. This is really exemplified in the scene where Sugihara’s teacher finds out Sugihara is going to a Japanese school and he gets really mad, beats him up, and calls him a race traitor. The movie really does a good job of showing the tension caused by this racism through these scenes. Another way the movie shows this is through the first names of Sugihara and Sakurai, Sakurai’s being extremely Japanese (Tsubaki) and Sugihara’s being very foreign/Korean (Lee Jong-Ho) serves to further show the divide between them in the moment Sugihara tells Sakurai he is Korean.

There were some scenes that gave me hope, such as when Sugihara and the Japanese police officer sit down together and have a coffee and smoke together. It was nice to see them get along, as the police officer should have arrested him, but he didn’t (partially since he didn’t know he was supposed to) and they were able to have a nice wholesome moment.

The other major theme of this film was identity, and it really focuses on how Sugihara doesn’t conform to traditional identities. Being somewhat of a delinquent and having a wild hairstyle shows how from the start Sugihara doesn’t fit societies expectations and breaks the mold. He challenges what it means to be Korean and Japanese in an effort to find his own identity. This can be seen in the scene where he is at Sakurai’s house, and he discusses the meaning of Japan’s name where he says that no one knows what it actually means. By saying this Sugihara is implying that the Japanese identity itself is meaningless. The reason Sugihara had such great respect for his friend Jong-Il was because he challenged the North Korean identity by saying that North Korea was never a legitimate country. In the end, Sugihara decides that these identities are not important to who you are as a person, which is exemplified by the line where he says to his dad at the end of the movie in Spanish “I am not Korean, I am not Japanese, I am grass without roots.” This shows how Sugihara has found himself, and is no longer bound by the chains of the identities society has forced on him.

I was not prepared for Jong-Il’s death, they really did him dirty. It was just so sudden, which is why I think it hit me so hard. The scene where Sugihara sits in a theatre watching Rakugo and reading Shakespeare as he cried really tugged at my heartstrings. It also helps contextualize the Shakespeare quote at the beginning of the movie.

I think this may be my new favorite of the movies we’ve seen so far. It was just such a fun watch, and I really enjoyed the characters and story of GO. I honestly could see myself watching this movie again just for fun.

[eclectichottubnut]

I also really liked the movie! I don’t know if it beats Tampopo for me, but it was still really good. I also thought that Sugihara was a fun character to watch! He never succumbed to the discrimination he faced. He took it in stride and actively fought back against it, literally at times. His relationship with Tsubaki was a great way of showing how he fit in with society until his nationality was revealed. I liked the message that, ultimately, nationality isn’t everything. Character and personality are what really matter. It really was a great movie! Great Post!