「源氏物語 先年の謎」(Genji Monogatari Sennen no Nazo) Final Review
「源氏物語 先年の謎」Final Review
I won't comment the history. It's not a fact of like or dislike: this is the greatest novel of Japan ancient literature, stop.
The movie, on the contrary, was quite boring. I won't understand this typical use of silence in japanese directors when they shoot an historical movie (particulary from the Heyan period). The story has love and jealousy well mixed together, but this movie version gives you everything in sloooow mooootion =_=
So the final vote I gave to the movie is just to the movie it self not the history, and down here I'll write about the things I liked ^^
Toma Ikuta is a great actor, but I didn't really like the movie, so I just keep staring at him hoping there would be some... DIALOGUE!! Silent part are sooo many...
But, in the end I think he portraied well the character of Genji. A man, a lover, a prince. He had a position, he behaved to respect it, but Toma could express his feelings and the spectator can feel them through his acting.
Then, I guess it was hard to act with all those clothes. If you haven't studied japanese history maybe you don't know that in this period the more important a person was, more were the kimonos he/she has to wear. Genji is a prince, he wears more simply clothes when we see him outside his home, but at the palace he wears a lot of kimonos.
What I really like of the movie was the mix between novel and real world. The director let us see the history of Genji, but also Murasaki's. Murasaki Shikibu is the writer, really existed during japanese Heyan period. I guess the story about her that we see in this movie is fictional, I'm not sure, but they did well. The similar elements between Genji's life and Murasaki's one are well mixed.
The actess was Nakatani Miki, whom I'm actually watching in "beautiful rain". I'm liking her in that drama and I liked her in this movie too. The character wasn't easy and she portrayed her in a very realistic way.
I want to spend just a few words about this character. I couldn't do anything but admiring Rokujo, which is strange since she's exactly the kind of woman I dispise (loving so much a man to the point she destroys her life -and others' too. Mens aren't worth of this).
You can't deeply hate her because she's cruel, but she can't really control it.
You can't deeply pity her because she kills good womans and the spectator wants an happy life for Genji: the life she doesn't want to let him live if it's without her.
But in the end I admired her bravery. She realize she won't live with Genji (exaclty because she loves him to the point she turned herself into a cruel demon) and she finds the strength to live him to save herself too.
My favourite scene was the one I used in the fist image of this post. Incredible! I didn't imagine it was her under the hat!
Final vote 6/10
I won't comment the history. It's not a fact of like or dislike: this is the greatest novel of Japan ancient literature, stop.
The movie, on the contrary, was quite boring. I won't understand this typical use of silence in japanese directors when they shoot an historical movie (particulary from the Heyan period). The story has love and jealousy well mixed together, but this movie version gives you everything in sloooow mooootion =_=
So the final vote I gave to the movie is just to the movie it self not the history, and down here I'll write about the things I liked ^^
Toma Ikuta is a great actor, but I didn't really like the movie, so I just keep staring at him hoping there would be some... DIALOGUE!! Silent part are sooo many...
But, in the end I think he portraied well the character of Genji. A man, a lover, a prince. He had a position, he behaved to respect it, but Toma could express his feelings and the spectator can feel them through his acting.
Then, I guess it was hard to act with all those clothes. If you haven't studied japanese history maybe you don't know that in this period the more important a person was, more were the kimonos he/she has to wear. Genji is a prince, he wears more simply clothes when we see him outside his home, but at the palace he wears a lot of kimonos.
What I really like of the movie was the mix between novel and real world. The director let us see the history of Genji, but also Murasaki's. Murasaki Shikibu is the writer, really existed during japanese Heyan period. I guess the story about her that we see in this movie is fictional, I'm not sure, but they did well. The similar elements between Genji's life and Murasaki's one are well mixed.
The actess was Nakatani Miki, whom I'm actually watching in "beautiful rain". I'm liking her in that drama and I liked her in this movie too. The character wasn't easy and she portrayed her in a very realistic way.
I want to spend just a few words about this character. I couldn't do anything but admiring Rokujo, which is strange since she's exactly the kind of woman I dispise (loving so much a man to the point she destroys her life -and others' too. Mens aren't worth of this).
You can't deeply hate her because she's cruel, but she can't really control it.
You can't deeply pity her because she kills good womans and the spectator wants an happy life for Genji: the life she doesn't want to let him live if it's without her.
But in the end I admired her bravery. She realize she won't live with Genji (exaclty because she loves him to the point she turned herself into a cruel demon) and she finds the strength to live him to save herself too.
My favourite scene was the one I used in the fist image of this post. Incredible! I didn't imagine it was her under the hat!
Final vote 6/10