For this whole week, I spent most of my nights at the national museum's gallery theater, volunteering for the Japanese film festival. And I got to catch films for freeee. (I don't always do this sort of things by the way, James Hill was my first) So I caught 9 films in total, from last friday.
Good for nothing(ろくでなし) was my first film, and I'm guessing that it's the first ever full-length-ed black and white film I've caught. It was... pretty interesting. It wasn't exactly traditional not was it very contemporary. I liked the dialogues, how it didn't bring out emotions too evidently, like you had to think a little into it before you got it. I thought it ended a little abruptly but I thought the last scene was very good in all in tragedy and etc etc etc. On Monday I caught A Stranger of Mine(運命じゃない人) which I enjoyed very very much! It was really, really funny and I think the director was brilliant! I liked the first scenario the best. :D Tuesday was Water Flower(水の花). I... couldn't get it. Apparently it used a lot of imagery and etc. I liked some scenes like when the little girl was dancing in the rain. But overall I think the movie was too draggy for me. "Very inanimate camera work with occasional panning, the stillness of the film is deliberate in an attempt to express without words Minako's mentality as a resenting teenager. The camera proximity was pretty alienating too. This really depends on subjectivity of each audience member." - J-son Folio on facebook (hahaha) SO YEAH, IT WAS WAY TOO DEEP FOR ME. But I really liked it when I found out 'water flower' actually refers to the reflection of the girl's lipstick in the puddle of water(got this from fb also haha I am so sad).
Bare Essence of Life(ウルトラミラクルラブストーリー) was a film I was really looking forward to, and it didn't disappoint!!! Matsuyama Kenichi acted really well, considering that his role wasn't an easy one. He brought upon the idea of naivety and vibrance in Yojin very well, in my opinion. From what I read on fb page, everyone has a different take on the film. My take is that Yojin // plants in some way. How spraying pesticide on himself is the easy way out of the irregularities he face in life, and to reach his goal of winning over Machiko. And the last bit with his brain, I'm guessing brain = fruit??? The like in most plants, their fruits end up given back to nature=brain being eaten by bear? Okay I may just be over-assuming but yeah, that's my take. I was quite taken aback by Yuriko's Aroma(ユリ子のアロマ) in the first few scene because it really has quite a... perverse theme? But it was really well directed imo and I think emotions was brought across very well. And the director was there for a Q&A after the show, which was interesting. I got an impression that he is quite a... perverse person himself hahahahaha but he is pretty cool. (y) Caught Lalapipo(ララピポ) right after YA and I was quite disappointed. Knowing it was a sold out film with 2 screenings, I had quite high expectations for it. But overall the movie felt quite disjointed and jut played around a lot on the themes of sex and humour of disfunctionalities in the Japanese society without much depth. It's a hahaha laugh at movie, walk out of theater and forget about it kind of film. The only interesting thing I got out of it was that the title Lalapipo was the english phrase "A lot of people" misheard by a Japanese person.
I caught all of the following three in one afternoon, which I sort of regret(although I didn't have much of a choice) because 3 movies a times is just too much for my brain to process!!!!! But well, I liked them all very much. :D Fish Story(フィッシュストーリ) had a great sound track!!! And every scenario was very well linked! And I thought the theme of 'saving the world' was very inspiring haha although it sounds kind of lame on it own but in the context of the movie it is (y)!!! Live Tape(ライブテープ) was a very simple film but I think it's pretty much the favourite film I caught this week! Maybe it's because it's "my kind of thing" haha with the ~indie music~ and all hahahahahahaha but I really, really enjoyed the songs and the lyrics and the fact that it was filmed in a suburban part of tokyo and the passerbys with their awkward stares and how down-to-earth everything was. I am now such a fan of Maeno Kenta, and after what Gavin said after the film, I really wanna catch Maeno Kenta and the David Bowies(hahahaha) live in Japan!!!! V sad that I couldn't get the DVD because it sold out before the show ended?!!? I loved the songs!!!! Esp Tofu and Weather forecast!!!!!!!! K moving on now. I'm thinking that Air Doll(空気人形) was the most anticipated film of the whole festival, and it really didn't disappoint! It was really beautifully made. And it felt really original although it's a slightly recycled theme(Pinocchio, A.I. - Inanimate object gains a human heart). It made me feel so much!!! Although I was quite confused by how the guy died at the end with just a small wound... and why he didn't say anything?!?!?!(quite annoyed by that) But overall, great film. Totally recommended to everyone!!!!!!!
Yay long, wordy post.
Anyway the images are ripped off from the JFF site, but I don't think anything will happen because as the band from Fish story said, 売れないから大丈夫.
Yay new book! I'm not always this excited about getting a new book but this time it justified because I haven't been reading since school started. Neglecting my kinokuniya card makes me a sad person. Now I just need to figure out how to fit book-reading time in between the assignments and school readings. Definitely not this weekend because I've got to work ._. 
Caught Sandcastle by Boo Junfeng yesterday and I liked it!!! Its really different from local films we're used to(eg Jack Neo and shows like... Old cow & young grass.............). Very very raw emotions, imo. A lot of thing our generation can relate to. It made me really sad about something that I can't really pin point but I found myself tearing up so many times! The overall style of the film is really good too. Reminded me of a film I caught recently, although I can't remember which (I think from JFF). Okay it's really hard to place how it touched me into words so I think whoever is reading this should just take some time off from work and school and shit and head to the cinemas to catch this. Oh, there was also like 3 secs of boobage, if that's an incentive hahahhaa. 
I completely forgot about this but here's my volunteer tag for JFF! It's very pretty ain't it! It says Eiga fan which is film fan in Japanese and it's so nicely designed! So glad we get to keep it heh heh Okay rushing out of house now BYE
