Trailer Weekly #82

Tags

Matsumoto Jun, Miki Takahiro, Miyazaki Goro, Moriyama Mirai, Shinkai Makoto, Studio Ghibli, Ueno Juri

I’m kinda starving (it’s almost 4 p.m. and I haven’t had lunch yet), so I’ll give you this week’s trailers without any further ado and shall head to the kitchen to make myself some gyoza and bibimbap.

Late Japanese Addition to the London Film Festival

Tags

BFI, BFI Film Festival, Film Festival, London, Matsumoto Jun, Q&A

I dropped by the BFI today because my festival tickets never did arrive in the post (so not impressed!). While there, I browsed the website a bit and noticed another Japanese film on the programme for the festival (which started today!): 「ジャパン イン ア デイ」　(Japan in a Dei/Japan in a Day, UK/Japan, 2012).

Review: 너는 펫 (Neoneun Pet/You’re My Pet)

Tags

adaptation, Matsumoto Jun

Year: 2011
Director: Kim Byung-kon (김병곤)
Country: South Korea
Screenplay: scriptwriter not named in the any of the sources I consulted
Cast: Jang Geun-sook (장근석), Kim Ha-neul (김하늘)
Runtime: 110 min.
Trailer: on YouTube (1 min trailer with English subtitles)
Film’s official website: in Korean

Advance warning: This review contains spoilers. I would recommend reading it only if you are already familiar with the manga or J-dorama that preceded the K-film.

너는 펫 (Neoneun Pet/You’re My Pet) sets itself up for problems from the start as it commits a fatal error when it allows Eun-yi (Kim Ha-neul) and In-ho (Jang Geun-sook) to meet under ‘human’ circumstances: Eun-soo (Choi Jong-hoon), Eun-Yi’s younger brother, brings In-ho, who has been booted out his own place, to his sister’s house for them to spend the night there.

Trailer Weekly #6

Tags

Film Festival, kimi wa petto, London, Matsumoto Jun, trailers, zettai kareshi

Only a few trailers this week:

Review: 「スマイル」 (Sumairu/Smile)

Tags

dorama, Matsumoto Jun, Smile

Year: 2009
Director: Yasuharu Ishii, Toshio Tsuboi, Akihiko Watase
Screenplay: Takayuki Takuma
Cast: Matsumoto Jun, Aragaki Yui, Nakai Kiichi

There is a plethora of Asian dramas out there, the majority of which suffer from the same ailments: weak, often completely nonsensical plot lines and an overindulgence in clichés and stock characters. The 11-episode Japanese dorama スマイル (Smile, 2009) has none of these faults, but sets itself apart with the pertinent as well as heart-wrenching story of Hayakawa Vito (played by a very tanned Matsumoto Jun), a hardworking half-Japanese, half-Filipino man who always has a smile on his face. Vito has only ever lived in Japan, speaks only Japanese and really knows nothing about Filipino culture yet has suffered from prejudice for being a ‘foreigner’ (‘gaijin’) since childhood. This discrimination makes no sense at all but persists in Japan to this day, with Sumairu courageously putting the issue of racism in Japanese society at the core of this drama.