ThatJapaneseDramaGuy

Movie: Rebirth (English title) / The Eight Day (literal title) Romaji: Youkame no Semi Japanese: 八日目の蝉 Director: Izuru Narushima Writer: Mitsuyo Kakuta (novel), Satoko Okudera Actors: Mao Inoue, Hiromi Nagasaku, Eiko Koike A woman abducts the baby of man she was having an affair with, the same man who forces her of having an abortion and as a result she loses her fertility. For four years she loved and raised the child as her own until the day she got arrested and the child went back to her biological parents. Fast forward and years later the child has grown up. She moved away from her home because she's unable to adapt with her family. Ironically she also became pregnant with a married man, and now is thinking whether to get an abortion or not. The film is about her journey on how she discovered the link between her present and her past. The opening sequence at the court is one of the strongest opening sequences ever. We see the unapologetic abductor and the veng...

Movie: Café Funiculi Funicula (English title) / Before the Coffee Gets Cold (literal title) Romaji: Kohi ga Samenai Uchi ni Japanese: コーヒーが冷めないうちに Director: Ayuko Tsukahara Writer: Toshikazu Kawaguchi (novel), Satoko Okudera Cast: Arimura Kasumi, Kentaro Ito, Haru, Kento Hayashi, Motoki Fukami, Wakana Matsumoto, Hiroko Yakushimaru, Yo Yoshida, Yutaka Matsushige, Yuriko Ishida The first thing you'll notice when you read the synopsis, Is this another time travel story? yes they do time travel in this movie, but that is not even what this movie is about. "Seize the moment" and "having no regrets" these are the things this film taught its viewers, how important proper talk in every relationship, how small talk can change people's hearts. Drink your coffee before it gets cold, very fascinating indeed. The pacing is episodic or better seasonal, kind off similar to movies such as "Little Forrest". There's a time skip between each story...

Movie: Vision Romaji: Vision Japanese: ビジョン  Director: Naomi Kawase Writer: Naomi Kawase Producer: Naomi Kawase, Marianne Slot Cinematographer: Arata Dodo Actors: Juliette Binoche, Masatoshi Nagase, Takanori Iwata, Minami, Mirai Moriyama, Min Tanaka, Mari Natsuki Aside from straight up adaptation or movies based on Murakami's novels, Vision is perhaps the movie that resembles Haruki Murakami's novels the most. A man living in solitude, the lyrical dialogue, dream-like atmosphere, deep thought provoking quotes and even the magical realism elements of his novels exist here. This is the type of movie that the conclusion is not as important as to how you would interpret the movie. I like that feeling personally, me being part of the movie and not just me staring at the screen and waiting to be entertained. A movie that is more of an experience is better than any movie even how much entertaining it is. If there's a director that could rival Hiroshi Ishikawa...

Movie: Sweet Bean (English title) Romaji: An Japanese: あん Director: Naomi Kawase Writer: Tetsuya Akikawa (novel), Naomi Kawase Actors: Kirin Kiki, Masatoshi Nagase, Kyara Uchida, Taiga When it comes to slow thought provoking films there is no better country that produces films like this than Japan, and there have been two directors that are front runners in this kind of genre which were Koreeda and Kawase. Both have similar styles but if you look closely koreeda films were tied with family while Kawase films were tied with how humans were connected with nature. Having said that, this film by Kawase is such a compelling film but compelling might be an understatement and strong might be a better word to describe it.  Well the story is simple a guy bakes pastries for a living, selling them under these beautiful cherry trees, in a street side shop that he doesn't own. He is somewhat unhappy with his life, because of certain events in his past. One of his close cus...

Movie: One Cut of the Dead   Romaji: Kamera wo Tomeru na!  Japanese: カメラを止めるな！  Director: Shinichiro Ueda  Writer: Shinichiro Ueda  Producer: Koji Ichihashi Cinematographer: Tsuyoshi Sone Assistant Director: Yuya Nakaizumi Actors: Takayuki Hamatsu, Mao, Harumi Syuhama, Kazuaki Nagaya, Yuzuki Akiyama, Sakina Asamori I heard many good reviews about this movie so I decided to see what's so special about it. I dive in with less expectation because the poster and synopsis looks weak, and also I am not a huge fan of the zombie genre. The beginning is a bit boring and to be honest very amateurish but as soon as that moment arrived I just realize the fact that this looks very low budget actually helps and I couldn't think it would work if they had the budget. Best movie to watch with friends as this movie is highly entertaining and the best rewatch value I've given to a Japanese movie. I can't talk anything about the plot be...

Drama: Inside Mari Romaji: Boku wa Mari no Naka Japanese: ぼくは麻理のなか Director: Smith, Hatsuki Yokoo Writer: Shuzo Oshimi (manga) Actors: Elaiza Ikeda, Ryo Yoshizawa, Yurika Nakamura When I thought I've seen all the clever twist in any movie or drama, but boy was I wrong, this drama has one of the most original and well executed twists in any drama. The last time I had this goosebumps was in the movie Pink and Gray, that one also has one hell of a twist. This drama is based on a manga of the same name so I guess I shouldn't be surprised because seriously these mangakas are geniuses coming up with original and crazy plot. Isao komori is a college dropout who spends his days playing video games and watching porn. He is living a carefree life. Every day he go to this convenience store just to see Mari, she has this angel like feature that made Komori decide to make Mari his idol. He became obsessed and his sole pleasure in life is to stalk Mari. One mornin...