films watched in 2023 (notes)

probably would be more enjoyable for someone whose read the manga

 i enjoyed the tone and the japanese immigrants she meets. it reminded me of a few french books i read in school where a kid/teen goes off on their own to learn their life isn't actually that hard. lol

had a lot of fun, was worth the price to rent it. the sightly homoerotic cat-and-mouse theme of this is unbeatable

i liked the setting of the flooded apartment, worked well as theme that carried through the whole thing. i also liked the sequence where the MC is stuck in an arcade all night. pretty good. (the gay aspect was more subtle than i expected)

loved it

if this gets a release someday where you can actually make out whats going on, i will be elated. this film isn't exactly great but it is interesting.

very avant-garde

for some reason, i keep thinking people who adapt shakespeare will change the ending

fun sports team movie, had me convinced i know how to sumo wrestle

epic

not the biggest wuss on the web, but i wish i had known about the extended attempted rape sequence beforehand. i didn't see it coming so i got a little upset...

i'm enjoying tsai ming-liang's filmography.. you can tell what elements he likes working with

i like quaint romance films similar to this but i wasn't really sold on this one. im not a takeshi kaneshiro fan per se but the moments where he was on screen were really the most enjoyable.

re-watch, director's cut

this film should've had more practical piano playing, i wouldn't complain if there was a second "duel" out of nowhere

wow ! difficult to make it through those two sequences where the girl has to suffer, but i really latched onto terue as a character. and that actress doing a double-role did an excellent job

"the island closest to heaven" had a great location setting, "hausu" was full of inventive effects and saccharine music cues... this obayashi doesn't have a complicated plot, but i was really not invested in it. another film probably better enjoyed by the original novels's fans (or maybe there's a more popular adaptation?). i liked the boy (koji)

the photoshoot with matsuda yusaku holding onto the woman in the red dress was a stroke of genius because every cover/poser from it looks so gorgeous that it convinced me to watch it

after cobalt claw is defeated it stops being the best tokusatsu film of all time. i understand that with magical girl shows a big focus is the deep friendship bonds between the girls and them gaining power from that but i feel like after it started to focus on that aspect, almost every other charming factor was taken away