nandemo nai yo
So last night I was bored and wanting to watch a movie, and I downloaded three-"너는 펫"/"You're My Pet" starring Jang Geunsuk (the Korean adaptation of the Kimi wa Petto manga), "Mr. Idol" starring, among others, Park Yejin and Jay Park, and "Paradise Kiss" starring Mukai Osamu and Kitagawa Keiko. (Why is my journal becoming like a review blog? Yikes.)
I started watching "너는 펫" first, but it turned out to be pretty bad-I can't tell if it was bad because the subtitles were pretty Engrish-y, or if it was just a bad movie, but either way I got bored about 15 minutes in. I'm holding off on watching "Mr. Idol" for now because it doesn't have subs and my Korean isn't that good (lol), so in the end I wound up watching "Paradise Kiss," even though I've never read the manga and I didn't really know what I was in for.
Oh you guys this movie is just the most precious thing ;; it combined a lot of my favorite things-Japanese schoolgirl uniforms (*__*), fashion and fashion design, the weird eclectic fashion subculture of Tokyo, a fairly cliched but still appreciable storyline, crossdressing/transgender issues, and really attractive leads. The story is that Yukari (played by Kitagawa Keiko) is a student at a prestigious private university in Tokyo, and she's not a gifted genius but someone who worked hard to get into that school because her mother wouldn't let her dream of anything else. But she meets a bunch of kids from a nearby arts high school, colloquially known as Yazacademy, and they end up totally reshaping her idea of what she's brave enough to do, what she's capable of doing, and how hard she needs to work to achieve her dreams. And of course, because it's a Japanese teen drama type movie, everything ends well :)
At first I wasn't really sold on Yukari as a likable character-toward the beginning, she was pretty brash and abrupt and not very forgiving, and so I worried about whether or not I would be able to sympathize with her as a protagonist. But as the movie wore on she grew on me, and it became more apparent why she behaves the way she does, the pressures and expectations on her, etc. The character of George (played by Mukai Osamu), too, was pretty awesome, in a very guarded, attitude-y kind of way-not attitude-y in the same way as Yukari, but attitude-y in the sense that he always seems like he knows more than you and never lets on what exactly it is.
I thought George was a pretty interesting character just because there was so little revealed about him-the fact that he rarely discusses his circumstances or his relationships gives the impression of him being kind of aloof as a defense mechanism, which turns out to be true. Anyway, the plot is cliched as fuck and fairly predictable, but I still really enjoyed the movie. The cinematography was lovely and all the actors did really well in their roles-I find that Japanese actors have a tendency to over-act, but in this case the over-acting seemed like it was purposeful in terms of the characters' personalities. I'd recommend this movie for sure :D and you can download it with subs at MyAsianCinema.
On a somewhat related note (in the sense that I'm discussing media I've consumed lately, I guess), my mom gave me her old Kindle because she got a new one for Christmas, so I've been doing a lot of reading lately! I finished Water for Elephants a couple of days ago, since I'm sort of participating in Hank Green's "Read It First" project (more here) and I've been interested in seeing the movie.
Honestly, the book was good, but probably not something I'd read again. I liked the plot, and the circus idea was really unique and had a lot of potential, but at the end of the book I didn't really feel emotionally attached to any of the characters. There were moments where I did, for sure-at the very beginning when Jacob (the protag) experiences his tragedy, for instance-but it wasn't a consistent thing. The only character I really ended up feeling for was the elephant Rosie, lol.
So, I liked the plot and the writing was good, but all in all I have to say I wasn't impressed. I'm going to check out the movie as soon as possible, though, and report back on how the movie held up to the book. Honestly I don't even remember who was in the movie at this point though so it may be that my interest has waned enough that it'll take a while before I get around to that.
this came from dreamwidth follow me there yeaaaaah
I started watching "너는 펫" first, but it turned out to be pretty bad-I can't tell if it was bad because the subtitles were pretty Engrish-y, or if it was just a bad movie, but either way I got bored about 15 minutes in. I'm holding off on watching "Mr. Idol" for now because it doesn't have subs and my Korean isn't that good (lol), so in the end I wound up watching "Paradise Kiss," even though I've never read the manga and I didn't really know what I was in for.
Oh you guys this movie is just the most precious thing ;; it combined a lot of my favorite things-Japanese schoolgirl uniforms (*__*), fashion and fashion design, the weird eclectic fashion subculture of Tokyo, a fairly cliched but still appreciable storyline, crossdressing/transgender issues, and really attractive leads. The story is that Yukari (played by Kitagawa Keiko) is a student at a prestigious private university in Tokyo, and she's not a gifted genius but someone who worked hard to get into that school because her mother wouldn't let her dream of anything else. But she meets a bunch of kids from a nearby arts high school, colloquially known as Yazacademy, and they end up totally reshaping her idea of what she's brave enough to do, what she's capable of doing, and how hard she needs to work to achieve her dreams. And of course, because it's a Japanese teen drama type movie, everything ends well :)
At first I wasn't really sold on Yukari as a likable character-toward the beginning, she was pretty brash and abrupt and not very forgiving, and so I worried about whether or not I would be able to sympathize with her as a protagonist. But as the movie wore on she grew on me, and it became more apparent why she behaves the way she does, the pressures and expectations on her, etc. The character of George (played by Mukai Osamu), too, was pretty awesome, in a very guarded, attitude-y kind of way-not attitude-y in the same way as Yukari, but attitude-y in the sense that he always seems like he knows more than you and never lets on what exactly it is.
I thought George was a pretty interesting character just because there was so little revealed about him-the fact that he rarely discusses his circumstances or his relationships gives the impression of him being kind of aloof as a defense mechanism, which turns out to be true. Anyway, the plot is cliched as fuck and fairly predictable, but I still really enjoyed the movie. The cinematography was lovely and all the actors did really well in their roles-I find that Japanese actors have a tendency to over-act, but in this case the over-acting seemed like it was purposeful in terms of the characters' personalities. I'd recommend this movie for sure :D and you can download it with subs at MyAsianCinema.
On a somewhat related note (in the sense that I'm discussing media I've consumed lately, I guess), my mom gave me her old Kindle because she got a new one for Christmas, so I've been doing a lot of reading lately! I finished Water for Elephants a couple of days ago, since I'm sort of participating in Hank Green's "Read It First" project (more here) and I've been interested in seeing the movie.
Honestly, the book was good, but probably not something I'd read again. I liked the plot, and the circus idea was really unique and had a lot of potential, but at the end of the book I didn't really feel emotionally attached to any of the characters. There were moments where I did, for sure-at the very beginning when Jacob (the protag) experiences his tragedy, for instance-but it wasn't a consistent thing. The only character I really ended up feeling for was the elephant Rosie, lol.
So, I liked the plot and the writing was good, but all in all I have to say I wasn't impressed. I'm going to check out the movie as soon as possible, though, and report back on how the movie held up to the book. Honestly I don't even remember who was in the movie at this point though so it may be that my interest has waned enough that it'll take a while before I get around to that.
this came from dreamwidth follow me there yeaaaaah