So I just finished watching the prequel to The Pornographer, Mood Indigo. It was not as good for me as The Pornographer, although I like how things ended for Kijima :-) Also I thought Takezai Terunosuke was so interesting to look at, the camera really loves him in this series.

Vague criticisms or confusion:

** I think the acting seemed good, but without knowing any Japanese or much about Japanese culture, I couldn't say for sure. There were a few moments when Kido sounded over the top to me, but maybe Japanese speakers would say both actors were absolutely great.

** Toward the end, Kito sad that his relationship with Kijima became "complicated". I think we deserved more of an explanation than just "it became complicated".

** I was confused how the sensai came up with the name "Renjiro" to go with "Rio". I thought it had something to do with the Japanese kanji meanings, but even with subtitles, I'm still confused as to how they came up with the name.

** I also thought that parts of Mood Indigo were a little self-indulgent. What I mean by that is that while most scenes in The Pornographer seemed to have purpose and be fairly clear, Mood Indigo had some moments where I said "Why is the camera still focusing on this, why aren't we moving on?" or "What is the purpose of this scene or these words, how are they contributing to the story?" I think the answer might be that the filmmaker liked those moments personally and so left them in. JMO.

Not a criticism, but I guess I'm not as much of a willing voyeur as I thought! The intimate scenes--even just passionate kissing--made me feel like I should not be watching. Perhaps Japanese sensibilities are different, I don't know, but I think I'd need some alcohol in me to approach those scenes with the gusto that Takezai Terunosuke and Yoshida Munehiro did.

Now that I have watched The Pornographer and Mood Indigo, I'm ready for Pornographer: Playback in 2021 !