A quick Hello! (That took over 2 weeks to finally post)
The Japan Film Festival is finally over and I’m still taking care of a few loose ends. It will all start up again soon. Hopefully this time, we won’t wait until the last minute for everything. There’s so much we need to address and fix. But we did survive our second year with tons of drama, late nights, some tears, but also great fun!
I’m sad that I missed the two screenings of Yokohama Mary. The trailer looked interesting and almost everybody that came out of the Friday screening said it was great. Out of the submissions, my favorites were: Diary of the DOROBO and CannibAlien.
Sky Crawlers: Visuals were great, storyline slow. I read a review about it afterwards to try to understand the movie better (warning spoilers-don’t click). May watch again to see if it makes sense.
Mushi-shi: Storyline slow, I thought it was going to be more exciting, fantasy type movie, I was wrong. Missed the last 10-15 minutes, so not sure how it ends.
ICHI: Story was good, only problem was the fighting scenes. Could have been more exciting. I would recommend watching it though.
SEX is no Laughing Matter: Started off strong but fizzled in the end. Yu Aoi is one of my favorite actresses, I like watching her on screen.
The Battery: Great! I really liked this movie, a “Must See”.
252: Signal of Life: It was better than I expected. I heard so many bad reviews, it probably was a little over the top, but I still enjoyed it. Ito Hideaki was OK in this. Not enough bare chested scenes like in Umizaru.
Always-Sunset on Third Street 2: Good continuation of the first movie. Should watch the first one before this to understand what’s going on.
A Long Walk: Sad, Alysa didn’t like the ending. Too open ended for her. Ken Ogata was great and so was the little girl, Hana Sugiura.
Vacation: A sad movie about a prison guard, his new family and an execution. If you think the U.S. Death Penalty is cruel, I think Japan’s is so much worse.
FUNUKE Show Some Love, You Losers: Hilarious, dark comedy about a dysfunctional family. Makes my family seem so normal.
I was going to add pictures and write about more of the films, but life kinda got in the way. So I’ll end this here. If I think of anything more, I’ll post again. Sorry it took me so long to write and post. The last JFFLA09 meeting and Wrap-up Party is scheduled for this Saturday, May 9th. Should be interesting to hear the outcome of this year’s festival.
