桜の吹雪: October 2019

Original Title: 湯を沸かすほどの熱い愛 (Yu wo Wakasu Hodo no Atsui Ai)

Director: Nakano Ryota

Distributor: Klock Worx

Release Date: October 29, 2016

Cast: Miyazawa Rie, Sugisaki Hana, Odagiri Joe, Matsuzaka Tori

Genre: Family, drama, slice of life

Notes: 2 hours and 5 minutes, bagged numerous awards in 40th Japan Academy Film Prize, 26th Japanese Movie Critics Awards, etc.

Review:

This film was so good I might as well tell you to stop reading this review and watch it right now. No kidding. Do yourself a favor and watch it. Right now.

If that isn't convincing enough, then continue reading and welcome aboard.

Our story centers around the protagonist Futaba who has a daughter bullied in school and a closed public bath business, thanks to the disappearance of her husband one year ago. Then, she found out she has a terminal cancer and that her days are numbered. So she decided to hire a private investigator to locate her husband. It was a quick search and Futaba managed to bring his husband home, with his child from another woman. They soon opened the public bath with all the members of the family helping around. But that's just two from the list of things she was determined to do before she dies. And the rest will guarantee to make your heart melt and put tears in your eyes.

I love the general concept of the movie: the pure, selfless love a mother can give to her children, husband, and strangers. It also showed a dying mother's strength, courage, and wisdom and her ability to inspire and change people's lives despite the dreary horrors she was facing herself.

AtsuiAi was well-written, the dialogues were creative, appropriate, and spot on, the pacing was not too slow, not too fast, and every characters were carefuly knitted into a wonderful 3D persona easily capable of drawing out empathy from the audience. The way the characters grow and matured into better persons were also worth mentioning as it made them more human; it made me feel like we're watching a reflection of ourselves, of our families, and of society as a whole. I also love the side stories and the little unexpected twists which added flavor to an already excellent film. Themes like bullying and death were handled responsibly and realistically. The resolutions were also convincing and satisfying.

Each characters were portrayed by top-tier actors and actresses, especially Miyazawa-san and SugiHana. That was a powerful combination and I would love to see them in a different film as mother and daughter again. Odagiri Joe's role was annoying but my heart warmed up to him after some scenes and I also appreciate the comic relief he gave to the story. I already lost count the number of times I cried while watching this film, but I remembered even the youngest kid in the film tugged my heart. That just proved how well-picked the cast were.

Cinematography and editing of the film was also good though nothing spectacular. The music was apt and brought nostalgia and heart warming feels.

I definitely recommend this to everyone. It's a gem you shouldn't miss!(*ﾟ▽ﾟ)/ﾟ･:*

Rating: ★★★★★

No comments

Original Title: オーディション (Audition)
Author: Murakami Ryu
Translator: Ralph McCarthy
Published date: June 7, 2010
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Format: Paperback, 191 pages

Blurb:

Documentary-maker Aoyama hasn't dated anyone in the seven years since the death of his beloved wife, Ryoko. Now even his teenage son Shige has suggested he think about remarrying. So when his best friend Yoshikawa comes up with a plan to hold fake film auditions so that Aoyama can choose a new bride, he decides to go along with the idea.

Review:

Too many highfalutin words which made it harder to read. Too much details about Aoyama's backstory and it could be removed without hurting the plot. Despite of that, I really liked Murakami Ryu's writing style. He, indeed, has a way with words. I loved his descriptions and how he relates it to other things and make the readers feel what he wanted to convey.

"But sometimes things happen that no one hopes for. Events that cause everything you've worked hard towards, the life you've carefully constructed piece by piece, to come tumbling down all around you. No one is to blame, but you're left with a wound you can't heal on your own and can't believe you'll ever learn to accept, so you struggle to escape the pain. Only time can heal wounds as deep as that - a lot of time - and all you can really do is place yourself in its hands and try to consider the passing of each day a victory."

I was also impressed with his techniques at foreshadowing. I learned a lot from reading this book.

There was no likeable characters except Yamasaki Asami. Aside from the author's brilliant prose, she was the saving grace of the story. I was amazed about the way this character was created. The way the author described her was impeccable.

"She's like a smoke: you think you're seeing her clearly enough, but when you reach for her there's nothing there."
"She's either a saint or a monster. Maybe both extremes at once, but not somewhere in between."

I would love to read a version of this novel in her point of view. I was more intrigued with her than Aoyama's sickening monologues and infuriating viewpoint about certain things, like:

"There had to be something wrong with any woman who dreamed of being an actress."

Wow. Just one sentence and even though I never dreamed of becoming one, I was seriously trigged. Yoshikawa also said something equally provoking:

"There's no such thing as an actress with a stable personality."

Nevertheless, the climax of the story makes up for the lack of tension in the previous chapters. It was so intense I could hardly breathe. But the ending was just so-so. I was a fan of Audition's cult classic film adaptation and watched it more than twice. It was the main reason I badly wanted to own a copy and read this novel. Though I have a few disappointments as the movie was better than the original story, I think it was worth the read.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

No comments

About me

twitter

recent posts

Blog Archive