Reviews

What does it mean to be a mother?

No Blood Relation was the second oldest surviving film from director Naruse Mikio. Like Ozu Yasujiro, many of his early films have been lost to the ravages of time. Based on a novel by Yanagawa Shunyo, Naruse asked the question, “What makes a mother?” Is it biology or nurture? A little girl would be torn between the only mother she’d ever known and the mother who came to town to claim her.

Famous actress Tamae Kiyooka returns home to Japan after making her fortune in the United States. First on her list of things to do is to regain custody of the daughter she abandoned as a newborn when she ran off with her lover to pursue her career in Hollywood. Coincidentally, her ex-husband is filing for bankruptcy and being hauled off to jail for reasons related to the downfall of his company. Kiyooka is unaware of how deeply Shegiko and her stepmother love each other. Masako has raised Shegiko as her own with Shegiko never knowing she’s not her biological mother. Kiyooka uses Atsumi’s mother who is disgruntled by their backward step in fortunes to kidnap Shegiko. Neither the little girl nor her stepmother are willing to be separated, but Kiyooka believes she has the moral high ground with the blood relation and is wiling to be patient.

Okada Yoshiko had the difficult job of making Tamae Kiyooka sympathetic. The script didn’t help much but her ability to convey Kiyooka’s sorrow and frustration over her daughter not only not recognizing her, but hating her as well came across wonderfully nuanced. Because Kiyooka remembered her child it never occurred to her that Shigeko would feel no connection to her. The consequences of her choices tumbled on her like a falling spotlight. “Is the bond between mother and child so fragile?” When you’ve put no effort into it for 7 years, yeah, it’s pretty fragile. I found Okada to be a fascinating person. The actress led a complicated life with various lovers culminating with a move to the USSR in 1938. Instead of a happy ending they were jailed and tortured as spies. She was incarcerated for 10 years and her lover died before she ever saw him again. Okada went back to Japan to make a few films in the 1970’s but returned to the Soviet Union not long afterward. Her story would make an intriguing film.

Tsukuba Yukiko as Atsumi Masako gave her character heart and a gentle fierceness as she fought for the daughter she loved. Traditional Masako was shown in contrast to Kiyooka’s modern and Westernized woman. Kiyooka deserted her daughter for a career while Masako began a job to keep her daughter. Oka Joji played the Atsumi’s friend, Kusakabe Masaya. This was a distracting casting choice for me. Nara Shinyo as Atsumi was homely and petite. I couldn’t help shipping handsome and imposing Kusakabe with Masako. Kojima Toshiko was charming as Shegiko, the precious child two mothers fought over. Katsuragi Fumiko played Atsumi’s greedy mother who proved that gold is thicker than blood.

I watched this silent film on the Criterion Channel where the film had an unobtrusive piano accompaniment added. There was significant salt and pepper pocking as well as white lines on some frames. The intertitles were used efficaciously and provided the necessary information needed with one exception. I wasn’t sure why Atsumi was sent to prison. Naruse made several awkward choices with the use of speedy extreme closeups interspersed with choppy shots of people and exteriors. His later work would flow much better. The bumbling brothers felt like they were part of different movie when they were clowning around all while two women fought a devastating battle for the affections and custody of a child.

With no spoken word, compelling performances were a must for silent films. No Blood Relation was fortunate to have quality actors conveying the film’s message. “It’s raising a child, not giving birth to one that makes a woman a mother.” Kiyooka had to learn the difference between love and possession while Masako had to dig deep to fight for the daughter she loved. If you enjoy Naruse’s films this poignant story about maternal love and what constitutes a family is one to try.

23 September 2024

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A different rendition of the end of My Home Hero.

Part 2 of the manga is one of my favorite pieces of media. It was harrowing, disgusting, and a massive low point for the Tosu family. However, Part 3 didn’t live up to my expectations. It dragged and didn’t feel like a satisfying conclusion to the story. But this movie, for me, is how My Home Hero should have ended.

Since they excluded the second arc, they had to rework some key plot points to fit the story they were telling. Unfortunately, the biggest casualty of these changes is Kasen, considering the second arc revolved around her. Shino and Ozawa’s personalities also took a hit, probably because there just wasn’t enough time to flesh out their subtleties. Making them more extreme versions of their characters works, too, I guess.

That said, the movie does have plenty of positives. There were a few major throughlines. One was Tetsuo’s confession letter-turned-novel. It’s what caused everything to spiral for him, and the way they tied it back at the end? SO GOOD! Another was Reika’s childhood vacation story, where she had to save Tetsuo, even though he was supposed to be the one saving her from drifting too far from shore. That same beach ends up being where Tetsuo stashed the Mano group’s money after taking Kyoichi’s freedom. All roads led back to that beach, and it’s also where Tetsuo loses his own freedom. It’s such a good final set piece, and I’m really glad they included Kasen in that scene. It’s a good farewell for him. I also love the contrast between Tetsuo’s scream to the heavens in the live-action series and his quiet, pained look from behind the prison walls here. He lost his freedom, but he protected his family.

It’s a really well-done, streamlined version of the end of My Home Hero. If you have the time, read the manga too!

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A feel-good movie

It is indeed one of my favourite Chinese movies, the kind of movie that makes you feel really happy and hopeful afterwards, hence 10/10 rewatch value from me.
The storyline is nothing out of ordinary, you can probably guess it just from watching a trailer. However, the way it flows is quite natural and does not have gaps where you feel bored or lose interest, instead it makes you cheer for the protagonist, you want him to win. The final battle where Chen Shuo incorporated everyone's dance moves into one is undoubtedly the climax of the film.
The only downside for me is I feel some of the dance scenes are unnecessarily heavily edited with too many visual effects, which kind of made the dance sequences a bit less enjoyable to watch.

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A viagem que é esse filme não ta escrito

Comecei a assistir o filme por puro impulso, pois tinha acesso a ele há bastante tempo, mas nunca tive coragem de assistir, sempre achei muito viajado. Sabia pouco do filme, vi trechos dele no tiktok, especificamente da cena daquele ovo alienígena soltando tentáculos nas pessoas, achei ruim. Olhei a capa do filme e vi a Kim Taerin, por isso baixei, mas nunca tive a audácia de clicar no play.

Anos depois, dei uma chance, e meus amigos eu estava certa, é um filme para se ver chapado. Você não da nada o filme inteiro, até mesmo na ultima cena eu ainda estava desacreditada de como um filme com um orçamento, nas alturas não foi engavetado? Com um elenco de peso com ninguém menos que Kim Woobin e So Jisub, que só o cache deve ser absurdo. E oq dizer do CGI? Esse filme tem muitos efeitos especiais por ser fantasia, além do figurino que também não deve ter sido nada barato. O pessoal estava mesmo apostando nesse filme.

Internacionalmente falando, nunca ouvi ninguém citar esse filme, certamente não faz o tipo de muitas dorameiras. Com muitas cenas de ação e de luta, é um filme que com certeza deve ser visto chapado, ainda mais por ter 2h30 de duração com um final aberto.

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Esta wena pero no taanto

PARA EMPEZAR: Vi esta película con mi mamá y me pareció entretenida para tomar tecito en la tarde, pero a los días se me olvido que existía hasta que la vi acá asi que toco darle una review. >>
•1.Este drama es la típica peli que está en Netflix sobre gente peleando con personas malas y pues senti que era una más del montón, lo que me llego a atrapar en algunos momentos fue el tema que aborda la película pero más de eso no me llamo la atención.
•2.La actuación del policía estubo buenisima (el poli tmb aajekek) y pues estuvo muy wuapo asi que le doy mas estrellas, agregaré que me encanto el cambio de look que le dieron al protagonista porque el pelo que llevaba antes no me gustaba nada la verdad (ahora si esta bien wapote).
•3.Respecto a la trama, no me pareció nada mal y me hizo encariñarme con algunos personajes, me gusto que el protagonista cuando veía a alguien en problemas no dudaba en ayudarlo. No me arrepiento de verla, byebye.
...
La recomiendo? Maso (recomendaria otras)
La volvería a ver? Nop
7-8/10

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Should you watch it?

Not the kind of show I would watch but decided to watch because of the hype.

In terms of pacing and writing it’s really good and also the basis of the story being centered around probation officers, martial artists who monitors possible offenders that might do recidivism is really a unique storyline of unsung heroes who usually go unnoticed. One thing that is believable about this movie is the mc’s father and director motivation to inspire others as well protecting the less vulnerable is very commendable and it doesn’t feel too forced upon or cringy. There isn’t really a boring moment in the movie which did make me guess how much more dangerous will the next offender be.

Mc has really good group of friends and support group so it was nice to see that their friendship isn’t only limited to hanging out playing games and eating out but it goes beyond that. They were willing to go the distance to help mc when it comes to catching the serial rapist. Mc’s relationship with the director was also wholesome and cute as they looked out for one another.

Overall, I can see why some might enjoy this as there are mix of light-hearted moments, good-hearted Mc and a unique storyline.

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I just finished watching this and I don't know how I feel about what I just saw.

I'm a martial arts fanatic. I will watch any and everything martial arts related. The title got to me and of course the fighting previews reeled me in.

The main character gets introduced as not having a life. He's easily bored if he's not having any kind of fun from winning what he thinks are challenges. He stumbles upon a person getting beat and he winds up helping that person with his martial art skills which gets told to someone in the ankle monitoring department of the police station. He learns the person he helped will be out of commission for 5 weeks and with his martial art skills, the ankle monitoring department could use some help with dealing with the difficult ones who won't obey the ankle monitoring rules. He then takes the job because he thinks it's fun. He then realizes the job he'll be doing isn't so fun because most involves sexual assault crimes against children. This right here could be a trigger for some which is why I think this movie treaded very lightly on the subject.

Now that I'm thinking about how I felt what I saw, the word 'light' explains it. This movie was very light. It only told the crimes of the ankle monitoring perps. Only two actors showed a light dusting of why they had to wear their ankle monitors.

The main bad guy hardly had any back story. We just know he's a horrible person that shouldn't be around kids. He gets out of jail only to pick up where he left off. This happens to be the heart of the movie but again, it was lightly done.
You get a few sprinkles of fighting scenes thrown in. The guy recruits his best friends to help capture the bad guy.....and that's about it.
He faces the bad guy again after the bad guy and his goons manage to injure the first MML and the other ML 's.

It ends with the hero saving the day...as usual...and that's it.

I usually gripe about Korean movies being a lot of fluff with no explanations on a lot of things and this one was like that. Luckily it wasn't drawn out and wrapped up in a news segment like a lot of Korean movies tends to do.

If you want a light hearted crime movie with some fighting thrown in, here's your movie.

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Not like manga

First season was at least following the manga. When I heard that the movie was announced I was excited but it didn't follow manga. They skipped part 2 of the manga and skipped part 3 as well. They took the aspect of the starting of part 2 in manga and the ending of part 3. At the end of season 1 it shows 6 months later a landslide occurs but in the movie 7 years later. The movie is completely non canon to the manga . If you want to consider it canon you can because it doesn't really affect the show story.
Tetsuo went to the landslide and met a detective. He found that the body was found of Matori and the detective asked him some questions. Then the plot goes on.
I liked the cast and story was good but compared to the manga it wasn't good. They skipped the village arc and didn't even explain properly that Tetsuo posted their story online.
Kubo said that Tetsuo made his killing more fun because he killed like 2 officers . Spoilers for the manga skip this part






SPOILERS
In the manga Kubo said thank you because Tetsuo let Kubo kills the entire village about 160 people and 180 because of suicide people.






Back to the movie
The music was on fire especially near the end of the movie. I like the cast so much especially Tetsuo.

One thing that the movie did better was show Tetsuo in Prison and gave a perfect Kyochi's character development. I really liked the scene where he punched Tetsuo( Hope he did the same in manga but he didn't because of his friends) I also loved that Kyochi was more involved in the action.
Choreography was amazing in the movie. I hope that they make season 2 of the series other wise this movie will be show canon which isn't bad but manga is amazing;

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The love triangle that never existed

The ML and FL were never in a romantic relationship. They were friends.

The ML was in 1999 and in love with a girl who ends up being the FL mom. He ends up dating her and is happy ML's best friend ends up being FL dad. When ML realizes that him being in their lives means FL will not be born, he leaves the picture. This is the part that is incomplete as we never see a love triangle between them. We barely see all three of them together in the screen.

Flashforward to 2022 and we see ML and FL meeting for the first time. also as an extra scene, you see how ML has been around protecting her in a fatherly/big brother way.

Some people think he could have been with the girl in 2022, but then he helps her get the guy (by giving the guy the umbrella and encouraging her to speak up), but the age difference and parent connection would have made this extreme weird.

The story itself was not bad, just felt rushed and incomplete in some areas.

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Bullies are just over the top

I would suggest to watch this movie atleast once. The story was not that phenomenal, the regular school bullies taking it to the next level and school authorities are just letting them be, until finally someone steps forward. The same old rich power trip continues, but the characters acting w as on point.
I fell in love with the FL, the movie made me realise how pretty one looks when fighting for the right thing.

Hats off to Shin Hye -sun, l was aww struck by her acting and that of Lee Jun young.

Some thing that felt lacking would be Han Soo Kang having a backstory. He has a step mother and some rumours about his family and that was all. It was up to our imagination, to make up as to why he is the way he is.!!

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"you were always normal"

Monster is one of the most gut-wrenching movies ever. It follows two children, Minato and Hori, who form a close friendship. This is one the most important film I have ever watched. I cried so much after watching this, my tears couldn't stop. What the poor boys went through at such a young age, society telling them they can't be this, they can't love who they want without being happy. Watching this has made me hate society and how much pressure we put on children to act a certain way, not just children but people. We have to act a certain way to deem fit to society. Society is the one that created the monster and they impose rules on what we should do and who we should love. People who created this heteronormative society are the real monsters. The boys did nothing wrong yet society kept telling them they were sick, that they had a pig brain, that they were a monster. They told themselves they were monsters but they weren't, the real monsters were the bullies and hori's dad. I feel heartbroken after watching this. I just want the two boys to be happy and love who they want, I want to tell them that there's nothing wrong with them. That they aren't monsters. I hope watching this movie will encourage others to be accepting and to love each other without restraints. One of the greatest films I have ever watched, I'll never forget his.

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Hardwork and heartwarming moments

These are the feelings evoked in someone when they watch their favourite team or the underdog team, hey, even their own high school basketball team play.
You've seen where they started, everything they had to go through, you feel their joy, frustrations, exhaustion and exhilaration. You find yourself cheering for them at every moment, and that's when you know, they have your attention.

This was more than just your underdog, rag tag team coming together to form a wonderful team, more than just being a plot device to generate some awws and sighs, no this felt so realistic. Be that it is based on real life events, there was so much heart in this movie that it felt like I was watching the actual people it was based on on screen, not just the actors.

All the characters had equal focus, another thing I love seeing in sports based titles. There was no star player, the coach wasn't the lead amongst the leads, this may have been one of those rare instances where everyone listed as a lead, genuinely felt like one.
It's hard to get the audience invested in a lot of characters without revealing much about them, but the amount of focus they each got, their actions on the court, the way they played as a team, it was more than enough to absolutely love them all.

The acting was great, the cinematography was great and I truly felt the word “rebound” as I watched. The meaning of the word, which I thought would be lost in the rest of the story, was indeed the most important thing after all.

The uplifting story, the subtle comedy and the sense of togetherness and familiarity this brought to me are just some of the reasons I would highly recommend.

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