Zhang Yimou directed an amazing movie once again. The actors did a wonderful job, the costumes were impressing, the story and the characters had a quite interesting devepment. The movie is full of yin and yang sympolisms which create a very special atmosphere. While most of the colours are missing the image is quite balanced and the performed music and martial arts have a different "colour" than what we're used to.
An excellent choice of a movie to watch at the cinema. Personally, I loved it, however I would suggest someone watch some other chinese movies before that, because I have the impression that they would not quite get the importance of the numerous symbolisms.

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Starting as a story about a rock band of teenage troublemakers, Shut Up: Flower Boy Band looks more like just a fun-to-watch k-drama. As some unexpected events change a lot of things in the band and the lives of the band members, you can't help but continue watching and watching. It's not just another story of cool boys who want to succeed in the music industry. It's a story of lost, immature, passionate young musicians who persue their dream, fall in love, deal with bulling and most of all try to keep their friendship strong.
Although you can find some cliché in the storyline, this drama is unexpectedly good. The acting and the songs are also more than satisfying. This drama makes Dream High look at least overrated. Shut Up: Flower Boy Band is probably the best drama on the youth/music genre.

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1 Litre of tears is an obviously heart-breaking drama, that's even based on a true story. This makes the viewer feel the pain of the main charater -Aya- and her family, her friends and the boy that eventually falls in love with her. The drama shares a quite optimistic but yet realistic view of life, when it comes to hard situations. However, some scenes are a bit too dramatic in my opinion. Also, the opinios shared about life and death may not appeal to everyone.

As far as acting is concerned, Sawajiri Erika and Nishikido Ryo were quite convincing. The same goes for the other actors. However for me Jinnai Takanori's acting was overdramatic. Narumi Riko was quite amateurish, too.

The soundtrack was beautiful, although you can't help but notice that a couple of songs and music themes are repeated too many times during the drama.

Generally, 1 litre of tears is a worth watching drama, especially if you love romance or tragedy. The character development is interesting and the story can touch anybody. Nevertheless, I can't overlook the fact that I felt that an important question was left unanswered in the end.

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The title should've been "My annoying father"

Where to start? This drama made me feel irritated in a level I didn't know existed. The main character is (unfortunatelly) the father. We're talking about a man who's raising his kid alone after his wife's passing. This character is supposed to potray a stupid yet caring father who raises his son well, despite the difficulties in life. It was supposed to be like this but it wasn't except for the stupidity that was always there. A selfish father, consistenly causing problems to his kind hearted son, never epressing his love, always putting his stupidity above all else. Not to mention the overacting. Let's just not go there.
In other words: No, I wouldn't suggest this drama to anyone. No matter how much of it was saved by Takeru Sato, it's still not enough to make it more than tolerable.

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I was expecting something nice but there is nothing really special or unpredictable about this movie, unfortunatelly. There's nothing new about the story, which even remains kind of incomplete in the end. There is no character development and the dialogues, the romantic scenes, the sad moments hardly create an emotional atmophere. The acting is not bad though. Takeru Sato is good looking, Sakurako Ohara is cute and the songs are OK. I would recommned this movie only to hardcore fans of rom-com movies about music artists.

Note: For those who haven't watched the movie yet, you have to wait for the end credits to finish, so that you watch the final scene.

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Τυχαία έμαθα για την ύπαρξη αυτής της ταινίας και είπα "γιατί όχι;" και δεν το μετάνιωσα. Δε χρειάζονται πολλά λόγια! Η υπόθεση είναι ό,τι πρέπει για κωμωδία, οι ατάκες και οι χιουμοριστικές σκηνές έρχονται από εκεί που δεν το περιμένεις. Ακόμη και οι σκηνές δράσης είναι πολύ καλογυρισμένες! Όλοι οι ηθοποιοί δίνουν ρέστα και οφείλω να αναγνωρίσω την υποκριτική του Jinyoung τον οποίο γνώρισα ως idol και δύσκολα θα περίμενα πως θα είχε μια τόσο καλή ερμηνεία σε έναν τόσο πολυδιάστατο ρόλο!

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"Center stage" gives the vibe of the classic and alternative film at the same time. There are movie scenes, there 're scenes of the cast commenting on the story, giving aditional information and opinios and there 're even some moments when we actually watch the movie set and the shooting. All these different things mixed finally distracted me from giving much attention to the story, which seemed quite tragic and I think it could easily move me, if it was given in a different way. I can see there is a deeply artistic point of view in the way it was directed, I just don't think that it's for everyone. For me it's just OK but for someone else it could be amazing.

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Άλλη μια ταινία εποχής με υπόθεση που είχε βλέψεις να αναπτυχθεί κάπως καλά, πολλή δολοπλοκία και ένα ρομάντζο ή περισσότερα ή μπορεί και κανένα. Οι έντονες ερωτικές σκηνές δεν έδιναν τίποτα παραπάνω στην ταινία, ίσα ίσα που αποσπούσαν από την ουσία του πράγματος. Ίσως βέβαια να ήταν αυτός ο σκοπός αφού τελικά μέχρι το τέλος ελάχιστη εμβάθυνση γίνεται στους χαρακτήρες. Το δίωρο περνάει αρκετά γρήγορα, παρόλα αυτά δε θεωρώ πως αφήνει κάποια ωραία αίσθηση στον θεατή.

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Λίγο απ' όλα και τελικά τίποτα

Μια σειρά με ιδιαίτερη αισθητική που ακροβατεί μεταξύ ρεαλισμού και δυστοπίας. Πειστικές ερμηνείες, σκηνές αγωνίας, μουντά χρώματα, ανατριχιαστική ατμόσφαιρα. Η σύγχυση που δημιουργεί στον θεατή η εξέλιξη της πλοκής που φαίνεται να μην είναι πολύ συγκεκριμένη εξ αρχής, η χλιαρή ανάπτυξη των χαρακτήρων και γενικότερα η κάπως χαοτική κατανομή των γεγονότων ανά επεισόδιο δεν σου δίνουν κανένα κίνητρο να συνεχίσεις τη σειρά. Ένα θρίλερ μυστηρίου που μάλλον βασίζεται στην προκλητικότητα των ιδεών και των σκηνών του ώστε να κρατήσει τον θεατή μέχρι το τέλος, κάτι που για πολλούς δε θα σταθεί αρκετό για να φτάσουν ως εκεί...

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Και τελικά τι;

Η ταινία ξεκινάει αργά αλλά μέχρι τη μέση καταφέρνει να σε κεντρίσει, αφού θέτει ένα ζήτημα περιβαλλοντικό -και όχι μόνο- με ανθρώπινο και ρεαλιστικό τρόπο μέσα από μια σκηνή απολαυστικών διαλόγων. Στο δεύτερο μισό αρχίζει να χάνεται η κεντρική ιδέα και πλέον αμφιβάλλεις για το πού θα καταλήξει όλο αυτό, αν τελικά ξεκίνησε από εκεί που νομίζαμε. Το τέλος, αν και καταφέρνει να σε φορτίσει συναισθηματικά, παραμένει ασαφές, ενώ πολύ επιφανειακή παραμένει καθόλη τη διάρκεια η παρουσίαση των χαρακτήρων.

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