[REVIEW] La Maison de Himiko

La Maison de Himiko
Japanese Movie


 

Genre: Drama

Cast:

• Shibasaki Kou as Yoshida Saori
• Odagiri Joe as Haruhiko
• Tanaka Min as Himiko
• Aoyama Kira as Yamazaki
• Utazawa Torauemon as Ruby
• Yanagizawa Shinichi as Masaki
• Murakami Hiroki as Chubby
• Inoue Hirokazu as Takao
• Moriyama Junkyu as Kijima
• Hatori Shinichi as Announcer
• Murashi Chiharu as Erina
• Nishijima Hidetoshi as Hosokawa 
• Tanabe Tokisawa as Junya

Synopsis:
      How a culture deals with its aging population and how it relates to its gay community are two measures of its humanity. The latest film from Isshin Inudo, who specializes in offbeat comedy, asks how Japan's aging homosexuals will fare, and the answer is, with the same outsider resilience that got them through life thus far. The House of Himiko is a beautiful seaside rest home for gay men, founded by the former proprietor of a legendary Ginza transvestite bar. Moving slowly through his domain, the stone-faced aging beauty in flowing kimono faces death from cancer. A devoted young assistant, Haruhiko, tricks Himiko's long-estranged daughter Saori into working at the home, which is populated by everyone from gentlemen chess players who spent a lifetime hiding their sexuality to cross-dressers whose burden of female identity has driven them “flaming.” Inudo's smart visual sense makes the film's finer moments resonate beyond quirky comedy—as when the residents, taking in the reality of losing one of their own, are suffused in a totally yellow light; or when they all gather on the balcony to blissfully watch tattooed young men bathing in the waves. We catch on much quicker than Saori—sullen in her abandonment-induced homophobia—to the realization that the feelings at play here run much deeper than the desire to wear (or not to wear) a dress. It is about the desire to love, and to die, as one chooses. Popular young stars Joe Odagiri as the searching Haruhiko and Kou Shibasaki as the emotionally crippled Saori play beautifully against type. 

info credits:  http://asianwiki.com/La_Maison_de_Himiko 

Sukaretto says:
     i though this was a sweet countryside drama cox i didn't read the synopsis before watching, i was a bit surprised when the prologue started. XD
     the story's good, the acting's superb. Odagiri Joe's amazing! omg. now i have to hunt all his dramas and movies. :D everything's good. it just feels like the story's lacking something. i mean it just ended like that. but maybe they made it that way so they could leave the rest to the viewers' thinking.

My Ratings: i'll give this 8.5/10 :)

[REVIEW] The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya

The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya
Anime

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Psychological, Sci-fi, SUpernatural 

Cast:

• Hirano Aya as Suzumiya Haruhi
• Chihara Minori as Nagato Yuki
• Sugita Tomokazu as Kyon
• Ono Daisuke as Koizumi Itsuki
• Goto Yuko as Asahina Mikuru
• Matsumoto Megumi as Kunikida
• Shiraishi Minoru as Taniguchi
• Kuwatani Natsuko as Asakura Ryoko

Synopsis:
       It is mid-december, and SOS Brigade chief Haruhi Suzumiya announces that the Brigade is going to hold a Christmas party in their clubroom, with Japanese hotpot for dinner. The brigade members Kyon, Yuki Nagato, Mikuru Asahina and Itsuki Koizumi start preparing everything for the party, such as costumes and decorations. But a couple of days later, Kyon arrives at school only to find that Haruhi is missing. Not only that, but Mikuru claims she has never known Kyon before, Koizumi is also missing, and Yuki has become the sole member of the literature club. The SOS Brigade seems to have never existed, nor has Haruhi Suzumiya. No one in the school has ever heard about her… except for Kyon. 

info credits:  http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=11120 

Sukaretto says:
     YAY~!! first time (in this blog) to do an anime review! okay. i don't know if i finished watching the crazy 8 (is that what it's called? when their summer was looped and they can't get out. cox i can't remember the ending XD), and thought i'll watch this. 
     because of the title, i thought Haruhi was really missing, i mean gone from the world. but it was only her "powers". i was already suspecting Nagato to be the culprit. and i loved how Kyon "explained" further the "error" Nagato was saying the reason why she got to alter and change their "present". how Nagato was so fed up being a NR and that she wanted a different world far from her present self. i also think Nagato likes Kyon. XD
     abnormal world is more awesome but i loved the shy Nagato and the long-haired Haruhi.

My Ratings: i'll give this 8/10 :)

[REVIEW] Paprika

Paprika
Anime

Genre: Sci-fi, Fantasy, Psychological, Thriller

Cast:

• Hayashibara Megumi : Chiba Atsuko/Paprika
• Ohtsuka Akio: Konokawa Toshimi
• Sakaguchi Daisuke as Himuro Hajime
• Hori katsunosuke as Shima Torataro
• Yamadera Kouichi as Osanai Morio
• Furuya Tohru as Tokita Kosaku
• Emori Toru as Inui Seijiro

Synopsis:
      In the near future, a revolutionary new psychotherapy treatment called PT has been invented. Through a device called the "DC Mini" it is able to act as a "dream detective" to enter into people's dreams and explore their unconscious thoughts. Before the government can pass a bill authorizing the use of such advanced psychiatric technology, one of the prototypes is stolen, sending the research facility into an uproar. In the wrong hands, the potential misuse of the device could be devastating, allowing the user to completely annihilate a dreamer's personality while they are asleep. Renowned scientist, Dr. Atsuko Chiba, enters the dream world under her exotic alter-ego, code name "PAPRIKA," in an attempt to discover who is behind the plot to undermine the new invention. 

info credits:  http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=6142 

Sukaretto says:
     i watched this cox they were saying that Inception copied it's story from this movie. but now i know, cox the Director of Inception said himself, that this was the inspiration for his film. and yes, the story's much different. the only similarity were the invasion of other's dreams and how they thought they were already awake but really still dreaming. it's both good in their own ways. it's just that the movie Inception, being based loosely from this anime movie, was made better. or maybe because i was half-asleep while watching Paprika that i didn't appreciate it much? XD i will watch this again.

My Ratings: i'll give this 8/10 :)