'Something New' - film review and thoughts on jdorama 'Long Vacation'

[winterspel]

I went to see 'Something New' today, and I loved it. Sure, the plot follows the typical romantic comedy formulas, and the ending is a foregone conclusion, as always, but I loved it anyway. One of the reasons I liked it is because it features an interracial romance, and I'm always pleased to see this tackled without it becoming a ridiculous object

Comments

[nutmeg3]

None of the pictures are showing up. :-(

You know Simon Baker was in LA Confidential, too, right? One of the best movies ever, imo, and I always felt so sad for his character. And how cool that he's also connected (if only by marriage) to Farscape, one of the best TV shows ever.

[winterspel]

Oh, yes, of course L.A. Confidential! I forgot to mention that, how silly! :) I'm still surprised to find my worlds colliding with this the Farscape connection! And I heartily agree - absolutely one of the greatest tv series ever, if not the best. I still miss it.

Try the pics now and see if they show up. Sorry about that, 'cause they're pretty. :D

[nutmeg3]

Yup, there they are - and very pretty indeed.

[catdecember]

i havent seen Something New yet but i want to coz of Simon Baker. :P

re: Long Vacation - one of my friends stopped watching it coz she thought it was dragging. i thought otherwise. LV is not my top favorite Takuya Kimura dorama (Pride holds that title), but its a tie with Love Generation. :D

[winterspel]

I loved Something New - love, love, love - Simon is so hot, but the story is really sweet and lovely. Their experience is so incredibly different from mine with Nic, but I can appreciate the difficulties - and I always think it's great when filmakers take risks on doing this topic, and when it's done this nicely, it makes me smile. And Simon is HOT. *laughing* Sorry, I was just stunned, because he never was before.

I adore LV and GL...I'll let you know how I feel when I've seen some of the other TK jdoramas, but right now, I think they're fantastic and beautiful. I'm just amazed at how much they've stayed with me, because I keep rewatching both LV and Good Luck. It helps that TK is gorgeous, amazingly gorgeous. :D

[catdecember]

i may drag my aunt who is also off work tomorrow, to see it. :D

takuya is my happy pill. i am sure he'll be yours soon. LOL

[koalathebear]

I am so glad you enjoyed Long Vacation! As I mentioned, it's a favourite jdorama for many people. It would be mine as well if I wasn't so in love with Shinkai and Ogawa - there was so much pain and uncertainty with Sena and Minami. Misunderstandings, hurt and angst and I was so exhausted, relieved and happy by the end. For me, Good Luck was quite different because the problems for the lovers were all external and not aboout how they felt for one another.

Kimura also has a beautiful voice - the intro to 2046 in Japanese by him is just dreamy and much as I love him in the 'future' scenes of 2046, he is soooooooo cute in the Directions scene when he and Faye first meet and he's babbling in Japanese and she's babbling in Cantonese and they have no clue what the other is saying but they're already starting to fall in love :D That caused a lot of laughter because Kimura's known for his long hair, or shorter funky hair - seeing him with his hair all slicked back like that was a bit of a jolt for some fans. He also looks soooo sad

[winterspel]

Koala, I really, really can't thank you enough for getting me to watch both of these jdoramas (btw, why is it spelled that way? I write it this way because everyone does, but I want to understand why it's not jdrama or something like that). Also, I want to thank you for your 2046 passion - this weekend I went back through your 2046 posts and just soaked them in. While I had read them before, I hadn't really just wallowed in all of it.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I owe you such a debt now! :D:D:D:D

Btw, I can't tell you how many times I've re-read your description and picspam of that future scene in 2046 with Takuya trying to tell his secret. It is unbelievably sexy. Gah! Takuya is just dripping sexiness! He has such an expressive face and body. I think he's grown up amazingly from the thin, gawky boy!

I'm kinda glad that TK is older than me so I don't have to feel like an awful dirty old lady...:D

[koalathebear]

*ogles your icon and drools* That is a gorgeous icon :D He really has grown up a lot from when he was that skinny little kid in LV although him eating the wedding photograph of Miniami's so that Minami won't be hurt is so hilarious :D

The funny thing was, the first thing I ever saw Kimura in was 2046, then I saw Good Luck, then I saw the cover of LV - and didn't even realise it was the same guy ;) How dumb am I? :) They're called jdoramas because 'drama' in Japanese is pronounced 'dorama' (hee yes it's derived from the English). On the net, people add a 'j' on it to mark it as Japanese. It would also be fine to call it a 'dorama'. :D There are a whole bunch of Japanese specific things I didn't understtaand when I first started watching. I wrote about a few of them here - stuff like what must be said before and after a meal, when you leave home when you come back home, what the person says when you come home etc

[winterspel]

I had this whole long reply, but it disappeared, so here's just a few things. I have no problems with watching series in subtitles, because I watch everything with captions/subtitles. Lots of times, I have to watch things maybe twice so I can see the video part as much as the language part. But I was so very interested in watching the excellent expressions on the characters faces in both these series that I was racing to read and then ogling their faces! Here's something else: I never really listened to Japanese before, but I've been leaving the audio of the episodes run in my headphones while I've been doing other things, so I've been listening more to the language (without seeing it) and I'm coming to like it quite a lot, at least certain things. Well, Kimura's voice. Somehow I think you will understand

[dangermousie]

You are a very good salesperson, you know? Thanks to your write-ups, I'll be watching both Good Luck and Long Vacation sometime next week :)

And that romcom sounds delightful...

[winterspel]

You are a very good salesperson, you know?

*laughing* I'm very glad you think so! Really, my enthusiasm is just bubbling over, and I can't stop myself!

And yes, Something New IS delightful. I loved it. And yeah, I want to see it again...when is that DVD coming out? ;)

[alexandral]

Interracial relationships film! How lovely after your post last week! I was watching one too!

[winterspel]

I know, I thought it was a strange coincidence that I got to see this film after what I had written earlier. And I'm really glad that I enjoyed it! Which film did you see on interracial relationships?

[alexandral]

I mean "Ultraviolet" **waves at her Ultraviolet post**

There it is

I am in love with Vaughan . And VAughan/Angie