film review (Love My Life)
Sep. 12th, 2009 08:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
floatingleafI saw a great movie last night. A Japanese lesbian love story, which, as I have just discovered, was based on a manga (strangely enough, I haven't read any lesbian mangas, though a own a nice collection of male gay ones, lol). It's very sweet, touching, heart-warming and just lovely, without being too saccharine (at least for me; and while I don't usually mind high sugar content in manga, I do mind it in movies - so I'm happy to say this one had enough angst to balance out the sweetness a bit :P). So, without further ado, I'm using my stolen review template(TM) to tell you a little more about it.
English Title: Love My Life
Original Title: ? (no idea)
Year: 2006
Country: Japan
Genre: romantic drama, I suppose
Director: Koji Kawano
Screenplay: Hiroko Kanasugi (based on a manga by Ebine Yamaji)
Actors: Rei Yoshii (Ichiko), Asami Imajuku (Eri), Ira Ishida (Ichiko's dad), Issei Takahashi (Ichiko's best friend Take)
Rating (1-7): 5
What's it about: Two young girls, Ichiko and Eri, fall in love. They have a lot in common, but there is one major difference: Ichiko is a cheerful, happy person with a loving, open-minded family and friends; Eri... not so much. This almost causes the relationship to fail... however, they both learn valuable lessons from the experience, and in the end, love conquers all. So, in a way, it's also a movie about growing up and finding oneself, and allowing oneself to be happy.
Music: Some Japanese pop-rock, I think - very catchy and fitting the emotional climate of the film.
Best: I loved the characters in this movie. The two young lovers are totally endearing, and Ichiko has the coolest dad on the planet, who's also gay (he comes out to his daughter after she comes out to him, lol) and has a much younger boyfriend (not that the dad himself looks anywhere near his age - but then, most Japanese people somehow maintain their youthful appearance well into retirement, so no surprise there, I guess). AND he's also a professional translator of literature (which is totally THE coolest job in my book :P). As well as a great cook. I mean, does it get better than that? :D There is also Ichiko's best friend, Take, who's a sweet gay boy and gladly pretends to be her boyfriend, just so their classmates at uni would leave them both alone. They're all just so effortlessly charming and genuine - and damn sexy too.;P
Worst: There is some oversimplification to certain aspects of the plot - some issues could have been explored at much greater depth (notably, Eri's family history, which is barely touched upon, despite being the main source of angst for the character). But then, we would get a very serious, depressing drama lasting about three hours.;) And that's what we would probably get if this was a Chinese movie, instead of a Japanese one.:P Not necessarily better or worse - just a different story altogether.
A Memorable Line: At one point, Eri tells Ichiko that she used to think she should have been a man - and then used to date men, just to figure out "which one she was". And finally she says something like that: "But then I decided to stop trying to solve this puzzle and just love the person I was in love with. Which is why I'm here with you."
A Memorable Role: Rei Yoshii as Ichiko. She may seem like a silly giggly girl at the beginning, but there is surprising depth and subtlety to her acting as the story progresses. Asami Imajuku as Eri is also quite intriguing. But I pretty much loved everyone in this film. They certainly weren't as one-dimensional as you might expect from manga characters (except for Eri's father, the token heartless businessman - but then, he's only there for about a minute, merely a symbol and/or explanation of his daughter's self-esteem issues).
Notes: There's plenty of other little things I loved about this movie, but I've given enough spoilers already.:)
Will I see it again? I'd love to. But I think I'm going to check out some other Japanese films first. I might be missing out on more cool stuff - young & fresh Asian eye-candy included.:P
English Title: Love My Life
Original Title: ? (no idea)
Year: 2006
Country: Japan
Genre: romantic drama, I suppose
Director: Koji Kawano
Screenplay: Hiroko Kanasugi (based on a manga by Ebine Yamaji)
Actors: Rei Yoshii (Ichiko), Asami Imajuku (Eri), Ira Ishida (Ichiko's dad), Issei Takahashi (Ichiko's best friend Take)
Rating (1-7): 5
What's it about: Two young girls, Ichiko and Eri, fall in love. They have a lot in common, but there is one major difference: Ichiko is a cheerful, happy person with a loving, open-minded family and friends; Eri... not so much. This almost causes the relationship to fail... however, they both learn valuable lessons from the experience, and in the end, love conquers all. So, in a way, it's also a movie about growing up and finding oneself, and allowing oneself to be happy.
Music: Some Japanese pop-rock, I think - very catchy and fitting the emotional climate of the film.
Best: I loved the characters in this movie. The two young lovers are totally endearing, and Ichiko has the coolest dad on the planet, who's also gay (he comes out to his daughter after she comes out to him, lol) and has a much younger boyfriend (not that the dad himself looks anywhere near his age - but then, most Japanese people somehow maintain their youthful appearance well into retirement, so no surprise there, I guess). AND he's also a professional translator of literature (which is totally THE coolest job in my book :P). As well as a great cook. I mean, does it get better than that? :D There is also Ichiko's best friend, Take, who's a sweet gay boy and gladly pretends to be her boyfriend, just so their classmates at uni would leave them both alone. They're all just so effortlessly charming and genuine - and damn sexy too.;P
Worst: There is some oversimplification to certain aspects of the plot - some issues could have been explored at much greater depth (notably, Eri's family history, which is barely touched upon, despite being the main source of angst for the character). But then, we would get a very serious, depressing drama lasting about three hours.;) And that's what we would probably get if this was a Chinese movie, instead of a Japanese one.:P Not necessarily better or worse - just a different story altogether.
A Memorable Line: At one point, Eri tells Ichiko that she used to think she should have been a man - and then used to date men, just to figure out "which one she was". And finally she says something like that: "But then I decided to stop trying to solve this puzzle and just love the person I was in love with. Which is why I'm here with you."
A Memorable Role: Rei Yoshii as Ichiko. She may seem like a silly giggly girl at the beginning, but there is surprising depth and subtlety to her acting as the story progresses. Asami Imajuku as Eri is also quite intriguing. But I pretty much loved everyone in this film. They certainly weren't as one-dimensional as you might expect from manga characters (except for Eri's father, the token heartless businessman - but then, he's only there for about a minute, merely a symbol and/or explanation of his daughter's self-esteem issues).
Notes: There's plenty of other little things I loved about this movie, but I've given enough spoilers already.:)
Will I see it again? I'd love to. But I think I'm going to check out some other Japanese films first. I might be missing out on more cool stuff - young & fresh Asian eye-candy included.:P
